


Space Oddity

by CrazyLittleHanyou



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Galra Keith (Voltron), Plotbunnies, Pregnancy, Romance, What Have I Done, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-09-27 23:30:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 33,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10056944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyLittleHanyou/pseuds/CrazyLittleHanyou
Summary: You were a prisoner of the Galran Empire.  There was no way you could fall in love with one of your captures, right?Reader x ThaceEventual Reader x Keith





	1. Kidnap

**3 months prior to the Kerberos Mission Incident**

You hovered by the shuttle whilst the two scientists explored the moon’s surface before you.  You were the second mission to reach as far as the moon of Neptune known as Triton and the scientists seemed to excited to be able to get their own soil samples whilst you found it to be rather cold and unpleasant.  You had been unable to get in contact with the base since arriving on Triton, some interference was making it impossible to relay a coherent message and you felt, in the pit of your stomach, that something wasn’t quite right.  You felt safer the nearer you were to your shuttle, your pilot training told you that if you were in trouble the closer you were to the shuttle the sooner you’d be able to get away.

“Hey, come and look at this, it’s really cool,” one of the scientists shouted at you, beckoning you over with his hand.

You hesitantly looked back at the ship and then at the scientist again before heading over to see what they were so excited about.  Just as you reached them and they started explaining their findings to you, your shuttle exploded.  You all ducked for cover to avoid injury from the flying debris.

“What the hell?!” you exclaimed as you and your companions poked your heads out of your hiding place.

“The ship!  It’s gone!  How do we get the samples home?!”

“Calm down Jim, we’ll just put out a mayday signal from the portable radio in this kit.”

“Easier said than done, Joe.  Since the ship can’t get any signal I doubt that thing will.”

“Anything’s worth a try, (y/n), don’t be so pessimistic,” the older of the two scientists, Joe, tried to calm everyone’s nerves whilst he assembled the emergency radio with shaky hands, “Mayday, mayday, mayday.  This is the Triton Mission.  We are located near the scheduled landing site.  Our shuttle has exploded so we cannot return to Earth.  There are three people in need of recovery.  Assistance required as soon possible.  Over.”

The radio was silent for a few moments before it started to crackle.

“Roger that, Triton Mission.  A rescue shuttle will be with you as soon as possible.  Over.”

The two scientists looked at you with a look that told you that you had been wrong about the radio.  You just shrugged and sighed.  Logic told you that it shouldn’t have worked unless the interference had cleared but it all seemed a bit too coincidental for the it to clear just after you shuttle became unusable.

“Look!” Jim exclaimed as he pointed toward the dark, starry sky.  Approaching them was a vessel, “we’re saved!”

You exchanged a look with Joe.  You both knew that something wasn’t right now.  There was no way that a vessel sent out from Earth could have reached you by now and the next closest mission was on Saturn and it would be a minimum of several hours before they would be able to get to them to provide any help.  Jim was already waving the ‘rescue’ shuttle over.  It didn’t look like any craft that you had seen before.

“This is bad,” you gulped as Joe nodded, sweat beading on his forehead.  Tentatively you both followed Jim towards the vessel.

Two, tall being stepped out of the ship followed by several smaller ones.  They were like nothing you had ever seen before.  Their eyes were pupilless and yellow, their skin, and most notably their fur, was differing shades of purple.  What caught your, and the scientist’s attention most though was the two protruding shapes that were coming out of their heads.

“They look like cat ears…” Jim mused next to you.

“Huge, purple space cats?” you agreed, a slight smile forming at your lips.  You smile faded quickly as the shorter and broader of the two approached you, his protruding fangs now clearly visible.  The second of the two followed with the other beings, some sort of robot you assumed.

“W-W-Who are you?” Jim questioned as a look of despair crossed his features.  It was fairly clear to all of you that these guys weren’t here to rescue you.

“I am commander Prorock of the Galran Empire.  You are now our prisoners.  You cannot leave this planet so I’d advise you come willingly,” the shorter, broader alien announced.  There was something sinister in the way that he spoke that frightened you.

“No, we’re not coming with you.  They’re coming to rescue us so we can’t come with you,” Jim protested although you were fairly sure that he had worked out that they had been tricked by now.  He turned away from the aliens and ran for it, only for one of the robots to shoot him in the back.  He fell less than five feet from you with an ear-splitting scream.

“Who’s next?” the alien who called himself Prorock asked with a smirk.  You and Joe looked at each other, having a silent conversation with your eyes.  Neither of you could see a way out of this where you got back to Earth so the choice was to die now or become a prisoner and perhaps die later.

You took a deep breath and stepped forward, holding your hands up like you would if you were asked to by the police.  You fought the urge to cry and tried to control the trembling of your body as you walked towards the two aliens.  Joe followed behind you.  You stopped in front of Prorock and glared up at him.  He chuckled.

“Brave woman.  Stupid woman,” the next thing you knew you found yourself on the floor, you face throbbing from the impact of his hand colliding with it.  You spat out blood onto the floor from your tongue that you had just bitten into.  You were angry now, not angry enough to do anything that might get you killed but angry enough to continue glaring at the alien, no monster, in front of you.

Joe was a quivering wreck beside you and Prorock grabbed hold of his arm and hauled him onto the vessel.

“Thace, bring the woman.”

The taller alien hadn’t said a word but did as instructed and dragged you to your feet and onto the spaceship.


	2. Slave

You looked across at the dark coloured cell wall opposite you and pulled your knees up more tightly into your chest.  You weren’t sure how long you had been on your own in the cell but you guessed that it had to have been at least a few days, maybe even a week.  Twice a day, food appeared through a slot in the door, food like you had never tasted before and weren’t sure if you wanted to ever taste again, but you never saw anyone.  No space cats, not scientists, no one at all.

You wondered how Joe was doing, whether he was in a cell like the one you were in or whether he was somewhere else.  He was, after all, a scientist so it was feasible that he was more useful than a pilot.  Unexpectedly the door to your cell opened and a space cat that you didn’t recognise walked into the cell accompanied by two robots, that you had learnt were called droids.

“Stand up,” the space cat ordered.  You did so, “walk.”

He indicated towards the door and you did as commanded.  He stepped out ahead of you and led the way to your destination whilst the droids followed, ensuring that there was no way for you to escape.

You followed them down several corridors and saw several others who appeared to be in the same predicament that you were in being escorted in the same general direction.  You followed the space cat into a room in which there were several other women.  He walked you over to a cubicle in the corner of the room and told you to enter and change into the clothes set out for you there.

With no other options, you did as he requested.  Your jaw almost hit the floor when you saw the scantily clad mannequin in the cubicle wearing the outfit that you were supposed to wear.  You contemplated for a moment whether perhaps George Lucas had ever been abducted by aliens because the outfit before you was highly reminiscent of the outfit that Leia had to wear when she was a slave for Jabba.  Reluctantly you striped out of your spacesuit, gave yourself a sponge bath from the small basin in the cubicle before adorning the outfit left out for you.

You stepped out of the cubicle and your space cat escort gave you a once over.

“Not bad,” he grinned as one of the droids shackled your ankles together on a chain that would allow you to shuffle around but not much more than that.  Shackles were then fastened to your wrists and a tray with drinks on was placed in your hands, “you’re in charge of block A.  You serve drinks to the Galra soldiers watching the match in the arena.  There is a refill station at the back of the block so make sure you keep everyone topped up with drinks.”

“What are Galra?” you asked not having heard the term before.

“You don’t know?” you shook your head, “You are a prisoner on a Galra ship.  _We_ are the Galra.”

“Ok, so keep the drinks of the purple space cats topped up.  Got it, I can do that.”

“What are cats?  Is that an insult?”

“Nooo, cats are the animals closest to gods on Earth and you _Galra_ remind me of them,” you had to think on your feet quickly but the guard seemed to buy your explanation.  He escorted you to the refill station of block A and left you to get on with your job.

You were pleased to see that you were not attending block A on your own and that there were two other girls in equally skimpy outfits, already serving drinks.  Both girls looked tired and scared and neither looked human.  One had what looked like tentacles instead of legs, each one with a chain around it, and the other girl looked like her skin was made of metal, she hardly looked real.  For a moment you watched what the two girls did.  You decided that it was better to observe and get it right than to rush in head first and get thrown back in your cell for getting it wrong.  Taking a deep breath, you stepped forward and started to shuffle through the Galra soldiers handing out drinks to those who requested them.

Occasionally you had the opportunity to look up and see what they were watching but you avoided looking as much as you could.  It was a blood bath down there.  They appeared to be setting prisoners against each other in what appeared to be death matches.  You couldn’t help but selfishly be glad that you had been assigned to serving drinks even if the outfit was demeaning.

You had gotten on well during the games and had done everything that you had been asked to do without messing anything up.  However, just as you were turning to head back to the refill station, your eyes fell on a man you recognised in the arena.  Joe.  He was holding a spear and trembling.  His opponent was twice his size in height and girth.  You knew that Joe was no fighter, after all, he was a scientist.  It was your job to protect the scientists as their pilot.  Clearly you were great at your job.  You watched the larger man descend on Joe, swinging his mace manically as he charged.  You turned your back to the game and tried to run, forgetting that your feet were shackled.  You stumbled but rather than hitting the ground you bumped into a hard chest that stopped you from falling.  The person held you as you heard the sickening crack of mace against skull and the crowds of Galra soldiers started to jeer and cheer.

You looked up and into the face of the taller of the two Galra who had taken you prisoner.  He looked down at your face and noticed the tears welling in your eyes.  His expression seemed to soften for a moment before it returned to the same expressionless one that it was before.  Somehow it was enough to help you regain your composure.

“I’m terribly sorry sir.  Please can I offer you a drink?” you mustered all of your strength and put on your most cheerful voice and smiled up at him.  He took the last glass from the tray and stepped past you.

“You have a nice smile,” you heard him say to you as he walked away.

You slowly made your way up to the refill station, the slower you walked the less likely you were to turn around and see Joe’s mangled corpse leave the arena.  The end of the games couldn’t have come soon enough for you and you were almost relieved when the two other girls told you that you would return to the room with the cubicles and change back into your own clothes before returning to your cell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so pleased that people are enjoying everything so far! Please enjoy another update!


	3. Tessan

It was a long time before you saw anyone again.  You weren’t sure quite how many days had passed but you realised that it must have been several.  You were pretty sure that you were slowly going insane from the lack of light and the lack of social interactions.  You would have given anything to have a conversation with someone, anyone.

Unexpectedly the door to the cell opened and the tall Galra soldier who had first taken you prisoner walked into the room.  He looked down at you, his expression unreadable.

“Come,” he commanded.  You stood, too afraid to disagree with him.  He led the way out of the cell and you found two sentries waiting for you in the hallway to help escort you to wherever it was that you were going.

Eventually you were led into a room.  The door closed behind you and found yourself alone with the Galran solider.  The room seemed quite cosy, a living quarters perhaps.  There was a sofa and kitchenette.  The solider put his hand to your back and guided you over towards a table with two chairs.  On the table it looked like there was a board and counters set up, a cross between Chess and Go.

“Sit,” he commanded.  You did as instructed, “have you played Tessan before?”

“No,” you replied as you sat down, “but I think I can probably pick it up with some instruction.  I’ve played games that look similar on Earth.”

“Good,” he said before explaining to you how the game worked.  You played the game for quite a while before he spoke to you again, “do you not wonder why you are here?”

“I wonder but I’m scared to ask,” you answered honestly.  A smile crossed his face at your honest answer.

“It may be hard for you to believe but the Galran Empire do treat their officers well.  We have several reward based systems for our officers.  Today you are my reward.”

Your head shot up in surprise and horror at this idea, what exactly did he plan on doing as his reward?

“Do not look so worried,” he reassured you, “My request was to be able to spend some time playing Tessan with you and talking with you.  I have been granted three visits for every eight days.  You may ask me questions about us and I will answer what I can.”

“Your name.”

“What?”

“My first question.  What is your name?”

“Thace.”

“Second question.  Why me?”

“You… interest me.  You are brave and honest but there seems to be something about you that makes me want to learn about you.  So, since I have given you my name, will you tell me yours?”

You thought about it for a moment or two before agreeing and giving him your name.  You then continued to your game whilst making more conversation with the Galran male.

You continued this way for the next few months.  You would be taken to Thace’s room three times a week basically and the rest of your time was spent either in your cell or serving drinks at the arena.

You hated to admit it but you had begun to enjoy the time you spent with the tall, purple man and had learnt a lot about the Galran race of people during your Tessan matches.  He had told you about the Empire, about their leader Zarkon who you were pretty sure was probably the scariest man in the universe just from Thace’s description of him.  You found it quite hard to believe that a being could live as long as Thace had claimed that his lord had lived for but he was quite adamant on the fact.

Currently, you were sat in your cell thinking about Earth.  You missed it very much but the time had begun to become tolerable thanks to your visits with Thace over what you reckoned was about the last three months.  You still had no time telling device but you had begun to become accustomed to the times that you were taken from you cell and to where you were going.  Within the next couple of hours you should be collected by Thace for your Tessan match.

The excited feeling in your stomach turned to anxiety and finally agitation as the time period in which you had been collected before passed without anyone coming for you.  You got ready to get up when you heard some shuffling outside of your cell but you were disappointed when only the food hatch opened and your meal was passed through.  You played with the food for a while but couldn’t find any appetite to eat it so it was left untouched as you slept on the hard bed, miserable once again.

The next day, you were taken to the arena to fulfil your duty as a drinks server for block A.  You could see Thace in the crowd but made a point of leaving that section to one of the other girls.  He had told you much earlier on that you were not to treat him as if you knew him outside of your games of Tessan so you couldn’t exactly go and have it out with him.  But what would you have out with him anyway?  He didn’t owe you anything.  You had just been a reward for his good work, nothing more, nothing less.

As you continued with your duties, you noticed that a young Galran soldier whom you hadn’t seen before kept staring at you, a dirty smile on his face.  You served him and those around him a drink with no hassle but you were still a little unnerved.  As you passed the soldier on your way back to the refill station, he grabbed hold of your wrist and pulled you towards him.

“Let go,” you demanded as you glared up at him, “I cannot do my job if you do not release me.”

“I’ve never had a hairless woman before, I wonder what it would be like.”

You struggled to try and free yourself from his grasp.  You didn’t like where this was going.  Unexpectedly, another hand grabbed your arm and you felt the tight hold on your wrist go slack.  You looked up into the yellow eyes of the man who had ordered your kidnapping, Prorock.  He was holding your assailant’s wrist in this other hand.

“This one is off bounds.  She belongs to one of my officers.”

“My apologies commander Prorock.  I was not aware,” the man looked genuinely worried that he had offended the commander.

“Good.  Now get back to work, woman,” Prorock released your wrist and you quickly scurried off.  As you hurried to the refill station, you thought you saw Thace looking over, his expression for the first time looked troubled.

You regained your composure whilst you waited for the fresh drinks to be filled up.  You never thought you’d ever feel anything but loathing for the man who shot Jim but you were grateful to his, at least for today.  But his words bothered you.  What did he mean, you belonged to one of his officers?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that all information on the Galra (and Tessan!) is completely made up by me. I know of created my own ideas on how it would run. I figured a reward system wasn't out of the range of possibilities since Zarkon has just a large army!
> 
> Thank you everyone for your comments etc. I'm hoping to updates on Fridays and Tuesdays as a general rule (although this one is a day late!)


	4. Belonging

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all again for your support!
> 
> Just to say again, all Galran species information it entirely made up by me for the sake of the story so... yeah enjoy!

A day or so later, your cell door opened at an unusual time.  You looked up from where you were huddled up in the corner of the room and into the eyes of Thace.

“Gather any belongings that you wish to keep and come with me.”

You stood up and looked around the cell.  You didn’t have any belongings apart from the clothes on your back so there was nothing for you to gather up.  You walked over to Thace, letting him know that you were ready to go, and followed him out of the cell and into the corridor where your usual escorts were waiting.  You were escorted to a room that you knew once more, Thace’s room.  Once the two of you were alone, Thace dropped all formalities.

“I apologise for not being able to see you the other day.  I had a review meeting but everything should be okay now.  Please, make yourself at home.  If you wish, there is a shower through the doors to the left and I have arranged for some fresh clothes that should fit you.  You will not be able to leave this room but you are welcome to use anything within it.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I told you before how our hard work is recognised with rewards.  Well my review meeting went well.  I received a greater reward.”

“And what was that?” you were starting to feel somewhat uncomfortable.

“You, or rather permission for you to live in my quarters instead of your cell.  You will also no longer have to serve drinks.  My superiors see it that you are my belonging.  Do not worry.  We will alternate the bed and the sofa.”

You gave him a curious look.  There had to be something that he wanted right?  I mean no one helps another person completely altruistically so there had to be something in it for him too.  He seemed to notice your expression and he continued to explain.

“Companionship is all I want.  There are other soldier here yes but really all I have in common with many of them is being a soldier.  It can be very lonely when you are posted out on long expeditions with no one to talk to.  As it turns out, I enjoy talking with you.”

You still weren’t one hundred percent comfortable with the situation.  You were wary and convinced that no one would do something for a reason so simple.  Still, this was a much better arrangement than sitting in your cell all day on your own and having to wear that degrading outfit whilst serving drinks, in fact you’d happy just take the sofa to get out of that.

“I don’t mind having the sofa.  It’s your room after all.”

“That would not be chivalrous.  We will alternate.  I must leave you now, I have some duties to fulfil.  If you are bored, there is a shelf full of books over there so make use of them.”

“Um… thanks?”

With that, Thace left the room.  You heard the door lock behind him.  Once you were sure he had gone, you headed over to the bathroom that he had pointed out earlier and decided to take you time under a hot shower.  It was so much better than the cold sponge bath that you were able to take in the changing cubicle.  You weren’t sure how long you were in the shower for but it felt like hours.  You felt that for the first time since your capture, you were able to wash away all of the accumulated filth and grim from your body.  Once out of the shower you noticed the clean clothes that had clearly been left for you.  They were very similar to the spacesuit that you had been wearing when you had been captured and you wondered briefly if this was deliberate.

Once you were dressed, you returned to the main living room and decided that reading a book wasn’t a bad idea.  You walked over to the bookshelf and started browsing title, looking for something that would entertain you.  You audibly growled in frustration at the books as you made your way over to the Tessan table and practised that instead.  There wasn’t a single book on the shelf that you were able to read.  They were all written in Galran text.

~*~

Thace returned to his quarters after completing his duties for the day to find the human woman soundly sleeping on the sofa.  She was wearing one of the outfits that he had picked out for her.  Assuming that her previous outfit had been of her taste he had selected ones from the store that looked similar to it.  He smiled softly at her as he gently brushed a stray hair from her sleeping face.  Humans were strange creatures, he concluded, but interesting and fairly good company.  He walked over to a nearby cupboard and pulled out a blanket which he lay over the sleeping woman.  He figured it was probably best if he let her sleep for now.

~*~

You awoke to the smell of someone cooking.  For a moment you thought that you had fallen asleep in the communal area at the Galaxy Garrison but, as your consciousness came back to you more, you realised that this was definitely not the case.  Your stomach rumbled loudly and you groaned as you slowly sat up.  You were somewhat surprised to see Thace in the kitchenette cooking.

“You’re awake.  How was your day?”

“Less boring than being in a cell.”

“Did you get any reading done?”

“No… turns out our languages are very different.  Hey, do you think I can have a notepad and pen?  Then maybe we can go through the language differences together and I can make my own dictionary for translation notes.  Maybe you could teach me how to speak it to?  It was on my bucket list to learn a new language so I could strike it off then.”

“What is a bucket list?”

“Huh?  Oh it’s a list of things you really want to do before you die.”

“And you have one?  May I see it?”

“Mine’s not so much a physical list as it is a mental one.”

“I see…”

The room returned to silence as Thace finished cooking.  He instructed you to take a seat at the small table and he served you a dish that you had never seen before.  You were nervous about trying the food.  What if it was disgusting and you couldn’t eat it?  Would that be offensive?  You shook the thought from you head, whatever it was it had to taste better than the food that you had been given in the cells so you should be able to stomach it even if it wasn’t to your tastes.

You tentatively started to eat the food and was surprised at how good it tasted.  Thace smiled slightly at your positive reaction and started to ask you questions about what sort of food you ate on Earth.

After dinner you played Tessan and continued your conversation about the differences between their race’s customs.

“So do you guys marry?  Can’t say I’ve seen any woman besides prisoners.”

“I do not understand the term ‘marry’.  Women do not come on Galran ships as a general rule.  It is too dangerous a place so they bring up offspring in female colonies.”

“Marriage, like guy and girl who want to be together so they get married and then they have a family.”

“I see.  We do not marry.  We choose a mate.  Galran men mate for life whilst women may have several mates.  There is a fairly high mortality rate amongst Galran men so it makes sense that the woman can take a new mate should theirs perish.”

“How do you know if a female has a mate or not?  Like we wear a ring if we get married.”

“There is a mark on the neck of the female after mating that is unique to her mate.  Once her mate dies the mark will fade.”

“Okay, that’s kind of cool actually.  No cheating amongst the Galra then.”

“Cheating?”

“Being unfaithful to you… mate.”

“No, punishment would be severe for such an act if it were to take place.”

“But the women get a choice in their mate right?”

“Yes, a woman cannot be forced to take a male as a mate.  It has to be consensual on both sides.”

“So… do you have a mate?”

“…No… I am yet to take a mate.”

“Is that normal amongst the soldiers here?”

“The younger ones perhaps but most my age have taken a mate by now.  It is not that I do not plan to, I just haven’t met the right woman yet.”

It started to make sense why Thace wanted companionship.  If the others his age or rank had families at home they probably talked about them a lot when socialising and that probably made Thace feel lonely.  Not wanting to press further and possible insult or upset the Galran Soldier, you changed the subject and continued with your game.

 


	5. Mate

It took him several days but Thace proudly presented you with three thick leather bound book of plain paper and a writing utensil that reminded you somewhat of a pencil’s led.  The Galra tended to use digital equipment these days so writing utensils were few and far between.

You spent your free time together from then on using two of the books to crreate Galran-English and English-Galra dictionaries.  You would sit together on the sofa and cross reference words, teaching each other your own written languages.  You had started by sitting at far ends of the sofa however, as time had gone on, you had gotten closer and closer to each other.  This was because it was easier to see what the other was writing but now you were sat shoulder to shoulder as you leant over to look at what he had written down.  At least that’s what you told yourself.

“Can you write that one for me Thace?  It’s too difficult, I’ll need to practice doing it on rough paper before I write it myself.”

“Of course,” he gently took the pencil from your hand, his long nailed fingers gently brushing yours as he did so.  You felt your cheeks heat up at the touch and your heart race seemed to increase a little.  Thace seemed completely unaware of your distress and you took the few moments that he was explaining how to write the word to calm yourself down.

~*~

That night, you lay in Thace’s large bed wide awake.  You were confused by what was happening to your body whenever Thace happened to touch you.  At first you wondered if you were unwell or whether maybe you were allergic to Galra fur but, lying in bed that night, you realised that this was not the case at all.

You analysed everything multiple times and realised that you knew what was wrong.  If he was a human perhaps you would have noticed it sooner but you hadn’t ever considered that it was something that would happen with a Galra.  Your body was reacting to him.  Your body was attracted to him.  Perhaps it was loneliness.  Perhaps it was his kindness.  Whatever it was you now realised that you were definitely attracted to him.  You told yourself that you would have to keep yourself in check, that you couldn’t let yourself get too attached nor do anything that he could construe as strange otherwise you may be back in your cell.

~*~

A few, what you guessed to be, weeks later you were sat on the sofa with a Galran children’s book in your lap.  You were two thirds of the way through it and you had managed to understand the majority of it too.  You were so engrossed in the story that you didn’t hear the room door open and it was only when you felt the sofa beside you depress that you noticed you had company.

You looked up into the pupiless yellow eyes of Thace and smiled sheepishly.  He was sat close, so close, and your body immediately started to heat up from the contact.  You smiled at him and tried to calm your beating heart.

“How are you getting on with the book?”

“I’m almost there.  There are a couple of words I’m not completely sure on so can we look at them together?”

“Sure,” he agreed as he rested his right arm behind you on the sofa and leant over you to see what you were looking at.

“Okay, so this word,” you picked out one of the ones that you weren’t sure one, “it looks like epoch but that doesn’t make sense with the rest of the context of the sentence.  I’m guessing its something like history?”

“Yes, correct,” He nodded, he seemed even closer now and his face seemed very close to your hair, “your hair always smells so nice and its so soft.”

“T-Thace, w-what are you doing?” you heart was beating so fast you were sure he could hear it now.  His fingers were gently combing your hair and his arms on the back of the sofa had dropped down around your shoulder.

“I’m sorry.  I’ve been trying to resist for a while now.  Just tell me to stop if…” he nuzzled the side of your face and the next thing you knew his lips were on yours.

Initially your mind told you to resist but your attraction for the man had you kissing him back before you could think.  Your arms wrapped around his neck as he pushed you down onto the sofa so that he was on top of you, your head resting against the arm.  You don’t know how long you were making out for but the relief and excitement that your felt made you forget just about everything else.

As your hands ran across the well defined muscles on Thace’s back you heard him growl as he broke the kiss.  He nuzzled into your neck and placed several kisses there before you felt a sharp pain, crossed with pleasure.  Thace’s lips covered yours once more as your hungry mouths intertwined but this time there was a metallic taste to the kiss, a taste like blood.

Thace abruptly pulled back and away from you, his eyes falling on your neck.  He gently placed his hand there and it came away with a red liquid on it.  His eyes were full of confusion as he gently lent over you once more and licked from your collarbone up to your neck, where you found the skin to be quite tender.  He then pulled away from you once more.

“I’m sorry,” he told you as he held his head in his hands.

“Thace what’s wrong?”

“I told you before, a Galran male marks his mate yes?  You should go and look at yourself in the mirror.”

Somewhat confused, you stood up and headed into the bathroom.  You stood in front of the mirror and your eyes widened in shock at the sight of your neck.  There were two shallow puncture wounds there, the bleeding already stopped but from that wound a mark, almost tattoo like in appearance, was becoming more and more obvious.

A large purple hand gently touched the sensitive skin as Thace entered the room behind you.  He looked so torn, confused and guilty.  You understood what this meant.  You two hadn’t even actually confessed to liking the other, let alone take anything further or doing what you as a human actually considered to be mating.  Nonetheless, one make out session and now you found yourself the mate of the Galran soldier.

“I’m sorry.  I’ve heard that when one finds their mate they mark them without any conscious thought.  I didn’t believe it could actually be true.”

“Thace,” you placed your hand over his larger one, “you told me that you can’t make someone your mate if they don’t consent right?  So can you stop apologising for a minute and think.  If I was completely opposed to the idea then the mark wouldn’t be there.”

Thace looked at your reflection in the mirror for a moment before his expression softened and he buried his face in your neck once more, his soft fur tickling your skin.  His arms crept around your waist and he hugged you warmly from behind.

“Maybe this is why I was interested in you from the beginning.  Perhaps you were always destined to be mine,” he mumbled into your neck before he turned you around to face him, “but we will have to go and see Lord Zarkon and have his blessing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Lord Zarkon is the only one who can permit or deny interracial mates.”

~*~

You didn’t think that you had ever been so scared in you life as you were when you were knelt in what could only be described as a throne room opposite the leader of the Galran Empire.  His glare was cold as ice, you could feel no compassion or kindness from him at all.

Behind him, somewhat in the shadows, stood a woman, her features obscured by a dark cloak the hood of which covered her head.  She scared you as much if not more so than the Galdran Lord himself.

Thace had advised you to say nothing, he would do all the talking and you were more than happy to let him do that.  He briefly explained to Lord Zarkon about your situation, although he put more emphasis on the attraction between the two of you and insinuated that you had been sleeping together since he had taken you as a reward however many months ago that was.

Lord Zarkon seemed somewhat disinterested in the entire matter, like it was the least important thing that someone could be bothering him with.  When you thought about it, for the leader of a Galactic Empire, it was probably pretty close to the bottom of his list of things he cared about.  He didn’t respond immediately once Thace had put his case forward and you feared that it meant that he didn’t approve.

“My lord,” the scary woman ventured as she stepped towards the Galran overlord, “there may be some merit to this union.”

Zarkon turned to look at the woman, the expression on his face telling her to continue.

“This girl and the prisoner who is taking the arena by storm are of the same race.  The prisoner has proven himself to be strong and merciless.  Perhaps having a half-breed in your fleet would benefit you.”

There was a long pause before Zarkon eventually came to a conclusion.

“Very well.  On the condition that your mongrel offspring will belong to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this isn't moving too fast for people but it was never intended to be a long fic, 20 chapters in total. Enjoy!
> 
> Next update will be on Monday!


	6. Exposed

You wiped your brow with the back of your arm as you put the last of the food that you were preparing in the appliance that most resembled an oven.  Thace’s commander, Prorock, had invited himself round for dinner to congratulate his subordinate on taking a mate.  Thace hadn’t had much of a say in the matter and had apologetically asked you if you could prepare a meal for you all as he had duties to carry out that day.

Thace had given you a fairly simple Galran cooking book to use and you had spent the last few days experimenting in the hopes that the food would taste authentic enough by the time of Prorock’s visit.  Now all that was left to do was lay the table and pour the wine.  You called it wine, and translated the name in your dictionary as such, since it was similar in colour and taste to wine however it was more like a spirit in alcoholic percentages and was often mixed with a Galran soft drink.

You had just lain the last piece of cutlery on the table, using the format that Thace had shown you, when he came through the door.  You half expected the commander to have come with him but it seemed that Thace was alone for now.  He walked over to you and kissed you lightly on your forehead before grinning at you like a child with a secret that they can’t wait to share.

You notice a strap hung over his shoulder and follow it to the bag on his back.  The bag that you recognise quite fondly as your own.  You had it with you when you were kidnapped but it had been taken off of you when you had been put into the cells so you never expected to see it again.

“How?”

“As a prisoner you were not entitled to any of the belongings from your home country but you are not a prisoner anymore.  I’ve been waiting for the storage facility to locate your things and I got the message just as I was leaving work so here,” he handed you the bag, “hopefully there are some things from home in here that will make you happy.”

“Thank you Thace,” you grinned before leaning up and kissing him tenderly on the lips.

Before you had the opportunity to open your bag and look through your belongings, there was a knock at the door.  Commander Prorock had arrived.  Whilst Thace opened the door and greeted his superior, you put your bag in the bedroom, the room which you still did not share with your mate.  He was insistent on not rushing things or forcing himself on you so he still refused to share a bed with you, until he was sure that you were comfortable with it.

You returned to the your living quarters and greeted the commander politely before returning to the kitchen to pour the wine and check the dinner.  Thace and his commander sat at the table whilst you did this discussing the day’s events and various other empire related subjects.  Once you joined them at the table and served dinner, conversation became much more casual and loose.

“Who would have thought that you out of everyone would have picked a hairless woman?” Prorock laughed as he glugged his wine, “I wonder what your young will look like!  When are you planning your first?  You have to put one in her quickly in case you die too soon.”

“I’ll… bare that in mind commander,” you weren’t completely sure but you thought you could see Thace’s cheeks flushing a darker shade of purple at the insinuations of his boss.

“And you, you did well for yourself didn’t you human?  Thace is a good soldier, very loyal.  I’m sure he will serve you well as a mate so do your best to _please_ him.”

Normally you would have held your tongue but you could tell that the commander was heading towards being quite drunk and your mate wasn’t far behind him so you figured why not be a little more daring for once.

“I’m a certainly lucky but you know what, so it Thace,” the commander quirked an eyebrow, “clearly you’ve never taken a human woman to bed commander otherwise you’d know what I meant.”

Beside you, you heard Thace choke on his drink whilst the commander laughed loudly.

“I like you.  You have a good sense of humour.  Thace has chosen well.”

~*~

The following evening you sat on the sofa whilst Thace paced up and down telling your about how embarrassing his day had been.  You were giggling slightly at his discomfort.

“And then he’s been walking around telling everyone that I was quick to take the human woman because everyone knows how good they are in bed.  He’s acting like it common knowledge, like everyone knows it.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so embarrassed.  My co-workers were patting my back and congratulating me on scoring a human all day!”

“Well you don’t know if its true unless you actually try me,” you winked suggestively.  His cheeks flushed slightly.

“W-w-what are you saying?”

“Oh come on Thace, you take me as your mate but you don’t consummate it?  A girl’s got need too!”

He looked at you as his cheeks flushed even darker.  You stood up and approached him now that he had stopped pacing.  You stood up on your tip toes and kissed him gently on the lips as you wrapped your arms around his neck.  Thace was quickly kissing you back as his hands found your waist.  The next moment, your feet were no longer on the ground and he was carrying you towards the bedroom.

He lay you down gently onto the bed and hovered over you before descending and kissing you again.  His hands roamed up and down your sides as your kiss intensified.  Your hands found the opening on the back of his uniform and started to pull down the zip.  You were somewhat pleased that he had removed the armoured part of the uniform when he came home, that would have been a real pain in the neck to try and take off.

As you started to pull his uniform over his shoulders, Thace stopped you and pulled away.  The look in his eyes was full of fear and anxiety.  You moved to kiss him again and he pulled back.

“I am scared,” he admitted, “I fear that my uniform makes you think that we Galran are more similar to you humans than we are.  That once you see me without my uniform on you will be repulsed by me.”

“Thace you have nothing to worry about.  I could say the same thing.  We are… different… from each other.  Perhaps you will be disappointed with what you find under my clothes… but I want you, I want to _be_ with you.”

“I could never be disappointed with you,” he purred as he leant over you and started to place kisses on your neck.  You moaned as his lips moved lower and his hands ran higher across your body.  You redeemed enough of your senses to continue removing his suit.  You pulled it gently over his shoulders as he helped you to shrug his arms out of it.

You made a point to look up at his body, you wanted to drink him all in, to show him you were not afraid or disgusted by him.  Your hands traced across the muscles on his chest and stomach.  You weren’t surprised to see that his body was covered in fur, it wasn’t like you had expected it to stop at his chest.  But what did surprise you was that the fur was so soft and you really liked how it felt under your touch.  Thace growled your name as you touched him before claiming your lips with his in an intoxicating kiss.

~*~

Thace had left for work before you awoke the next morning.  You felt sore, apparently Galran men had a lot of stamina not to mention that they were somewhat well endowed so your body had had to adjust to accommodate him.  That said, it had adjusted well and you had definitely had the night of your life.

You had a leisurely shower, dressed and then collected your bag of belonging from the bedroom.  You sat on the floor in the living area and spread out the contents of your bag on the floor.  There wasn’t a lot there but it was enough to remind you of home and make you feel a bit homesick.

The first item that you looked at was the pocket cookbook that your grandmother had given you when you had graduated as a pilot.  It was full of simple recipes that you could make with very basic ingredient and cooking facilities so she thought it would be helpful for you to have it if you ever got stranded.  Admittedly it wasn’t very useful when you were stranded on Titan, the barren land had not life source but it was the sentiment that counted.

Next was your mp3 player, miraculously it still had some battery remaining but you decided not to listen to it, perhaps you would show it to Thace later and let him hear what music from your world sounded like.  You had the charging lead for it too and had scoured your quarters in hopes of finding a USB shaped outlet to no prevail.

You lifted up the small plastic wallet that contained all of your ID and credentials.  You had looked through all your things yesterday too but hadn’t been able to open up the wallet, you didn’t know why but you had found it too difficult.  It seemed that this was the same for today as well as you quickly set it aside.

You smiled as you took your polaroid camera from its case.  You took it everywhere with you with lots of spare film and a little album that you put all of your photos in.  You decided that you wanted to take a picture of you and Thace.  In fact, you had spare batteries and lots of film so you figured you could take a number of pictures of the two of you if you wanted to.  You skipped over looking in the album, the last picture that you put in there was of your landing on Titan with the two scientists that you knew were no more.  You didn’t know that you could cope with looking at that.

The final thing in your bag was the small plush seal that you had carried everywhere with you since you were a child.  It was only palm sized which was perfect for taking with you unnoticed as an adult but it had been a gift from your younger sister for your 5th birthday and you considered it a good luck charm.

You looked at the items laid out all around you for several minutes before you decided to start putting them away.  Just as you did so, Thace returned home, much earlier than he usually did.  You looked up at him and realised that he looked very worried.  The next moment he was on the ground next to you, his arms wrapped around you shoulders and holding you against his chest.  It was only then that you realised that you were crying.  You didn’t want to cry in front of him, you wanted him to think that you were strong, but he wouldn’t let you out of his embrace and eventually you started to sob and bawl.


	7. Comfort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay in updates! Life has kind of gotten in the way of things this week so this will probably be the only update. But, fingers crossed, next week will be back to normal.
> 
> Also, just a thought as the Thace arc is almost over, would you guys like to have a final 'Thace's point of view' at the end of the arc? Let me know what you think :)

You cried for a long time.  You figured that it was all of the accumulated stress since your abduction coming out all at once.  You hadn’t cried at all up until now, you hadn’t felt able to.  You still didn’t know how long you had been away from home, it had to be headed towards a year now, but you had a lot of conflicting feelings inside.

Thace never once told you to stop crying or pull yourself together.  He sat there holding you in his arms, muttering the occasional smoothing word, until you had finished.  Later, he told you that he thought that you must have been holding everything in and he had almost been waiting for this.  He was tactful enough not to ask about any of your personal belonging although you didn’t miss the curious looks that he gave them.  You would tell him about them at some point, just today wasn’t the day.

Thace prepared dinner for the pair of you that night.  You appreciated the gesture.  You had taken to cooking as you didn’t have a lot else to do with your time since you weren’t allowed to freely wander around the ship, but tonight you felt so exhausted that it was nice to have someone else do it for you.  A lot of your meal was eaten in silence, Thace seemed to be trying to find the right way to broach something and you felt it best to let him take his time.

“Do you think Earth would be accepting if you were to return with a Galran husband?”

You quirked an eyebrow.  You hadn’t really considered that you would ever be able to return to Earth so this wasn’t a question that you had ever thought of an answer to.  You thought for a moment or two before answering.

“I think there would be a lot of interest in the union, in you especially.  Earth is far behind many other planets with their space exploration and you would be the first ‘alien’ that they would have met.”

“Do you think it would be a problem?”

“I don’t know.  The authorities might like to try and keep things hush hush but my father is a high ranking official of the Galaxy Garrison so I think he would protect us.”

“Do you think your father would approve?”

“I think he would be ecstatic,” you smiled sheepishly, “my father is a great believer in there being other life in space so I think that he would want to talk with you for hours and learn more about you.”

“And you mother?”

“She’s never approved of anything I’ve done so I doubt it,” you said it somewhat in jest.  Your mother had never really agreed with your life choices but had supported you nonetheless, “she’s quite old fashioned and didn’t think a woman should become a pilot.  I kind of feel sorry for my dad.  She’ll have lectured him about it since I didn’t return, she’ll tell him he shouldn’t have encouraged me down this career path.”

“So the general consensus would be that it would be okay?  Then I would like for it to happen one day.  There are things going on at the moment that I can’t divulge to you but once they are completed then I should have some free time and I would like to visit Earth with you and meet your family.  I would like for them to approve and… for us to have a wedding on Earth so we are united by the customs of both of our races.”

You blushed slightly.  You couldn’t say that you didn’t like that idea.  You weren’t sure whether the words that Thace was saying to you were pipe dreams that he was using to comfort you or whether it was something that one day could become a reality but either way you appreciated the gesture.

Once you had finished your meal and done the washing up, you went to your bag and pulled out your camera.  You figured it was about time that you two had a record of your memory.

“Hey, Thace,” you walked over to where he was sat reading a book, threw your arm around his shoulder and pointed the camera at the two of you, “say cheese!”

“Cheese?”

The camera clicked and started to whirr as the film fed through it and popped out of the top.  You handed it to Thace and grinned.

“What is this?”

“Just watch.”

Thace did as you instructed and watched as the blank film started to change and the faint hints of an image started to appear.

“Is that us?”

“Yep.  It’s an instant camera so you can take pictures really quickly.”

“Do you have more of these?”

“Yeah I have loads of spare film and batteries.”

“No, I meant pictures.  Of your life before.  I would like to learn more about you.”

You hesitated.  You weren’t sure that you were ready to look at those photos and yet you wanted to show your family to Thace.  You nodded after a moment and got your album.  You opened it up and the first picture was one of you, your mother and younger sister.

You quite enjoyed showing your life to Thace.  Every so often he would ask more details about a certain picture or person.  He was especially curious when he saw the photos from your training days, graduation and with your fellow pilots at the Galaxy Garrison.  He seemed especially curious of the star of your class, Takashi Shirogane.  You didn’t press for details but it was almost as if he had seen him before.  You figured it wasn’t impossible.  If your mission to Titan had been compromised by the Galran Empire then any mission that Shiro was leading could have been too.

Once you had finished showing him the pictures he asked if he could keep the one of the two of you, to which you agreed on the condition that you could take another one.  Of course he agreed and this time, much more aware of what you were going to do, he smiled at the camera.  Whilst you were at it, you decided to introduce Thace to the music of your home world.  You were quite pleased that your mp3 player had a built in speaker as well as an audio jack as you weren’t sure quite how Thace would use your ear buds.

You scrolled through your music before picking something that you felt would be suitable and setting it to play.

_I got me a shovel, and I’m digging a ditch, and I’m gonna fight for this four square feet of land like a mean of son of a bitch…_

“Is music popular among the Galra?”

“No.  We have our own songs but they are taught from parent to child rather than mass produced.”

Thace expressed interest in listening to a few more songs before the battery on your device eventually died and cut out midsong.  Thace asked what had happened and you explained it to him, telling him about the lead but how your sockets were very different to Galran ones.

Later that evening you found yourself falling asleep on Thace’s bare chest as you cuddled in bed.  He was gently rubbing your bare back in a rhythmical motion and that, combined with the steady beat of his heart, was lulling you quite quickly to sleep.  Just before your consciousness drifted away completely you heard Thace speaking to you.  It seemed that he thought you were already asleep.

“There are things I have to tell you and I hope you don’t think less of me for them.  I never looked for a mate, I actively avoided it but I think that falling in love with you was probably one of the greatest, most selfish things I have ever done.  But I have fallen so madly in love with you that I don’t want to lie to you any longer.  Soon I will explain everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyrics are from Get Better by Frank Turner. I so recommend listening to his music :)


	8. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry once again for the lack of updates. Things are still a bit mad at the moment so it'll probably only be one update this week and one next week and then (fingers crossed) things should be back to normal. :)
> 
> Once again, all Galran information is made up by me!

Time, as a concept, was very much lost to you by now.  You had no idea how long you had been Thace’s mate for only that it had to have been for at least a few months now.  Not a lot had changed, you spent most of your time alone in your shared quarters although you were now invited to socialise with other Galran soldiers and they would come and visit the two of you as well.  You couldn’t say that you were particularly fond of any of the soldiers but it made for alternative company.  Not that there was anything wrong with Thace’s company but you were somewhat cabin feverish and seeing other people on occasion helped to break up the time.

One evening around this time, you just walked out of the bathroom after a shower only wearing your towel.  Thace was stood in the living room having returned whilst you were showering and unable to hear him.  He looked like he wanted to tell you something and was holding in his hands the Galra-English dictionary that you two had compiled.

“Want to snuggle on the bed?” you suggested, thinking of it as a fairly safe place for the two of you to talk if he wanted to.  He nodded and followed you through to the bedroom.

You sat on the bed just in your towel and motioned for him to come and sit next to you.  He did so and sat so that he was shoulder to shoulder with you as he opened the book up.  Rather than speaking, he opened the book to a page and pointed to a Galran word, allowing you to read, in your head, the word next to it.

‘Secret… spy… takedown… Galran… Empire… position… mustn’t… be… compromised… but... want… you… safe… and… know… truth.’

You were shocked at this new information for a moment but as you processed it you realised that it made more and more sense.  Thace’s heart was kind, he wouldn’t easily be able to tolerate the awful crimes that the Galran Empire committed.  Trying to take down the empire, well that made sense and kind of sat well with you.  You looked up at him and nodded with a smile.  You pressed your index finger to your lips to show him that you would of course keep it a secret.  He smiled and kissed your forehead.

“Here,” he handed a small box to you.  You raised an eyebrow as you looked over the box.  At first it seemed like some sort of Galran tech thing but you then noticed the familiar USB slot.  You looked up at him, your look questioning how he had done it, “I couldn’t do it myself but I borrowed the lead and had one of the technical soldiers make it so you can listen to your music.”

“Thank you Thace you’re too kind to me.”

“No.  I could never be too kind to the woman I love.”

Your eyes widened at his words.  He had never said that he loved you before, at least there was that one groggy memory when he might have said it when you weren’t supposed to hear but this was the first time he had pointedly told you.

“How would you tell someone you loved them in Galran?”

He whispered the words in your ear and, taking his face in your hands, you repeated them to him before placing a chaste kiss on his lips.  He didn’t let you pull away and deepened the kiss, removing your towel as he did so.

~*~

You sat over the toilet in a sort of despair.  You had been sick three mornings in a row now.  Every muscle in your body ached from retching and the taste in your mouth was almost constantly of bile.  This morning, you had started throwing up before Thace had left for work and now he was knelt behind you, rubbing your back with one hand and holding your hair with another.  He constantly asked if you were ok and you assured him that you were but he didn’t accept it.

As soon as you had stopped being sick for a good amount of time, he collected you up in his arms and carried you out of the room and through the ship.  You requested several times that he put you down, it was embarrassing and other soldiers were around to see.  He refused, worried for your health and carried you into the infirmary and lay you down on a vacant bed.  He started explaining your symptoms to the doctor whilst you sat the shaking your head.  Just as the two started to contemplate whether or not you had contracted a highly contagious space virus and should they quarantine the ship you decided to speak up.

“Hey listen, I’m pretty sure I don’t have a virus.  I’m fairly sure I’m pregnant.”

Both Thace and the doctor stood and stared at you.

“Throwing up is not a sign of pregnancy.”

“It is if you’re a human.  We call it ‘morning sickness’.  I’ve thrown up the past three mornings but been fine by midday and I don’t have a fever or anything.  I’m tender here,” you indicated towards your breasts, “which, in humans is another sign.  Surely with your advanced Galran technology you can do a quick scan or something and confirm this?”

“W-well of course,” the doctor agreed as he scurried off to get what he needed.  Thace walked over to your side and took hold of your hand.

“P-pregnant?  You mean that we?”

“Thace, do I have to explain the birds and the bees to you?”

“Birds and the bees?”

“Nevermind.”

The doctor returned with a handheld scanner.  He told you to lie on your back and assured you that the technology in the scanner would not harm your child if you were indeed pregnant.  He passed the scanner back and forth over your stomach whilst it clicked and beeped.  Once he had obtained a good enough reading, the doctor pressed another button on the scanner and an image, somewhat like an ultrasound image, showed up on the screen.  You could hear a steady beat coming from the image although you weren’t really sure what the image was showing you.

“That’s a heartbeat,” the doctor concurred, “from the look of the embryo, I’d say you’re around your first quarter, although it’s a bit of the small side...  But it may not be so easy to tell because…” he indicated to you and then to Thace, “how long is the gestation period of a human?”

“About nine months.”

“What is a month?”

“Galran pregnancy would last about the equivalent of seven to eight human months,” Thace calculated.  You and he had talked through the difference in time keeping and he had managed to understand the how to convert the two much better than you had.

“I guess a congratulations is in order then.  I can give you some anti-sickness tablets but I have no idea how well they will work on a human.”

“No, it’s okay.  I’m sure I can survive the sickness,” you were already getting up from the table.  Before you could start towards the door, Thace had picked you up once again, “Seriously, I can walk.”

“Just entertain me for today.”

There was something about the doting look in his pupilless eyes that made you agree to his request and allowed him to carry you back to your room.  He sat you down on the sofa, poured you a drink and placed it next to you and then insisted that you stay were you were for the rest of the day.  You agreed, more than anything to get him to stop mollycoddling you and go to work.  He left you with great reluctance.

~*~

Thace held open the small book under the scanner and then waited as images of various crops flashed across the screen before him, trying to find a match.  He knew he shouldn’t be doing this on work time but he wanted to make sure that you received the best possible care now that you were… well he could hardly believe that it was true.  He was both ecstatic and terrified.  Someone cleared their throat behind him, making him jump.  He turned around to find Commander Prorock giving him a reprimanding look.

“What are you doing?”

“I, uh, commander, it’s just that (y/n)’s been away from home for so long.  I wanted to see if any of the foods in our database matched the pictures of food from her planet.  We’ve just found out, literally just found out, that’s she’s pregnant so I wanted to make sure she gets the best nutrition and food from her home planet, or similar enough to it, would ensure this.”

Prorock grinned and slapped Thace hard on the back.

“The doctor already told me, in fact he’s told most of the ship.  Apparently he’s interested in seeing what a human-Galran hybrid will be like.  I can give you a break for now to find her some decent food.  Anything you find get ordered and we’ll go and pick it up at the end of our shift.”

“We, commander?”

“Of course, I’ll be coming round this evening to congratulate your mate.  I always liked her, from the moment we found her and those other humans on that moon, I thought she was going to make life interesting.”

Thace shook his head as the commander left.  When he had requested (y/n) as his reward, Prorock hadn’t even remembered them capturing a woman but now there was a story to gossip about his memory had refreshed and he credited himself with setting her and Thace up.  But, on the other hand, he was allowing Thace to slack off for now so he was going to take full advantage of that.

~*~

When Thace returned home that evening with Prorock at his side, he found you bent over, your bum high in the air and you head and arms sunk into the floor.  He was very worried at first before realise that you had your headphones in.

As soon as you realised you had company, you moved into the recover position for a second as you paused you music before sitting up and greeting Thace properly.  You were quite embarrassed when you saw that the commander was with him.

“It’s called yoga,” you explained, showing them the yoga app on your device, “I figured it would be good to be more flexible going forward.”

When that didn’t make sense to them you told them it was a human pregnancy thing which they accepted.  You noticed the crates in the commander and Thace’s hands and curiously looked into them.

“Is that a potato?” you never thought you’d be so excited on seeing a root vegetable, “and tomatoes, broccoli!  Cabbage!  Onion!”

“Don’t get too excited,” Thace warned you, “they may not taste how you are used to.  These are the nearest equivalents that I could get to some of the items in your cookbook.  Commander Prorock helped me locate and bring them here.”

“Thank you, Thace,” you wanted to kiss him but restrained yourself with his superior present, “and you too Commander.”

“My pleasure.  Make the most of it whilst you can.  I’m sure you two have a lot to discuss and plan but recommendation would be colony B-3.  My mate lives there and she’d take you under her wing.”

You blinked at the commander in confusion before he hastily made his exit, possibly realising that he had said too much.  You looked at Thace for an explanation.

“You’re aware that there are not generally women on Galran ships yes?  Well most women live in colonies where they bring up their young in close knit communities.  A Galran warship is no place for a heavily pregnant woman or an infant so, at some point, we will need to discuss you moving to a safer place.”

You looked at him aghast.  You couldn’t think of anything worse than being apart from Thace during your pregnancy.  Tears started to pool in the corners of your eyes threatening to spill down your face.  As the first fell, Thace’s large hand was there to wipe it away.

“I’m sorry,” he rested his forehead against your and wrapped his other arm around you to bring you closer to him, “I didn’t want you to find out like this.  But I already have a safe place planned for you when the time comes.  You can probably stay here until the end of your second quarter, part way into your third perhaps, but we don’t know how long you will carry for.  It would break my heart for my child to be born on this ship.”

You nodded in agreement.  You understood what he was saying.  He was after all a spy and who would want their child born on the enemy ship.  You couldn’t wholeheartedly say that you wanted to bare you child there but you also knew that Thace wouldn’t leave his post because he wanted so much to take down the empire so you couldn’t ask him to run away with you.

Somewhere deep inside you, you felt an underlying feeling of foreboding, that something bad was coming in the future.


	9. Separation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay in updates. Things with work have been very hectic and then I had a (significant) birthday which needed celebrating followed closely by Easter. But now those things are completed updating should return to some form of normality! Thank you everyone for your reviews and kudos... please enjoy this chapter although it's not the happiest of chapters sorry!

Time passed quickly.  As the baby within you grew, Thace would excitedly tell it the stories of Voltron, some lion mech as you understood it, who had risen to take down the empire.  The paladins were apparently inexperienced but had successfully taken down everything that the Galran Empire had thrown at them so far.

As excited as he was to tell your child the stories, the thought of the looming battle also made Thace quite twitchy.  He wanted you off the ship sooner than you wanted to leave.  You argued about it, usually over a game of Tessan, but in the end you knew that he would get his own way.  You knew that he was right but you still didn’t want to leave his side.  He was the only thing you knew in space, without him how would you survive?

Whilst the two of you shared a shower one day, he told you that he planned on taking you to the safe place he had planned himself.  Officially he was taking you to Colony A-5, where he had grown up and where he had another spy contact who had agreed to help with falsifying you being there.  In reality he was taking you to the headquarters of the Blade of Marmora, the organisation that he was a spy for.  He said it was the safest place he knew of and their leader had agreed to take you in.

You were stood in your bedroom, watching the baby kicking in the mirror when Thace literally ran into the room somewhat out of breath.  His look of despair relaxed slightly as he looked at your stomach and he walked up to you and gently placed his hand there so he could feel your child.

“It has to be today,” he told you sadly, “Voltron is getting ever closer and a battle is expected very soon.  I _must_ be here for that battle but you must not.  I cannot risk you getting hurt during it so will you please appease me and agree to this?”

“Yes, I understand,” you replied solemnly.  You didn’t want to agree but the desperation in Thace’s eyes made you realise that protesting it would cause him far more anguish in the long run.

You quietly dressed yourself and collected your belonging, the ones that came with you from earth and the few new ones you had acquired from Thace, including the dictionaries that you two had compiled.  As you packed your bag, you found your small plush seal.  You smiled at it fondly before turning around and holding it out to Thace.

“Please take my good luck charm with you, to help keep you safe.”

He took the seal from you and looked it over curiously.

“It has been with me since I was a child but I want you to have it now.”

Thace carefully tucked the seal into a hidden corner of his uniform and hugged you gently.  You hugged him back and stood like that for some time before he took your hand in his, picked up your bag and headed out of your room.  You looked back at the room, knowing in your gut that you would never see it again.

~*~

You sat in silence in the small shuttle that was taking you to your new home.  Thace was piloting it and the pilot within you found it interesting to watch how a Galran ship worked but it wasn’t the time to ask questions.  As you came close to where the colony was, Thace typed in a code and scrambled the system so that it would look like it had docked safely.  He then continued through towards your true destination.

You weren’t sure how he had managed to pilot the craft between the two black holes and the planet’s gravitational pull but Thace made it look easy.  He was granted permission to dock the ship and was greeted by two men in masks.

The senior of the two men removed his mask to reveal and older man with a scar over his right eye all the way down to his lip and red markings on his forehead and ears.  Thace introduced him as Kolivan, the leader of the Blade of Marmora.  Kolivan regarded you quite coldly for a moment before calling for his companion, Antok, to show you to your new quarters whilst he spoke with Thace about their mission.

Antok didn’t speak to you as he showed you to your room but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable.  You room was simply decorated.  It was like a studio apartment, your bed and a crib were on one side of a chest high wall and a kitchenette and living area was on the other.  A door off from the sleeping area led to the bathroom.  Above the crib you hung a mobile with lots of different planets on it and underneath the crib you noticed two boxes, one filled with baby garments and the other with toys.

A while later, Thace joined you in your room and you both agreed how nice it was.  Thace explained to you that the Blade of Marmora were mainly war hardened men so they could seem quite abrasive on the outside but they did look after their own.  You snuggled with Thace on the bed whilst you could, kissing and making a fuss of over your baby bump together before the time came for him to leave.  You grabbed your camera bag as before you walked with him to where the shuttle was docked to say goodbye.

“One last picture right?” you suggested holding up the camera.  You asked Antok to take the picture for you and, once you showed him how simple it was to use, he obliged.

You posed for the camera, finding the biggest smile you could muster for it thinking that Thace would do the same.  Instead, as Antok clicked the button, Thace turned his head so that his lips were against your cheek.

Once the picture was taken, he pulled you into a hug and kissed you passionately several times.  You told each other how much you loved each other in English and in Galran between kisses before Kolivan insisted that the time had come for Thace to leave you.

You kissed him once more before allowing him to go, tears streaming down your face as you watched the shuttle leave.  You fell to your knees as he disappeared into the cosmos.  Somewhere deep in your heart you knew that the two of you would never meet in person again.


	10. Gone

You cried for several days after Thace left you at the Blade of Marmora.  The one other non-fighter female at the headquarters, and Kolivan’s mate, Marka took you under her wing and comforted you whilst you grieved.  When you spoke about your intuitive feeling of not seeing Thace again no one, not even Marka, gave you false hope.  They didn’t say that you wouldn’t see him but neither did they say that you would.  You understood from what they did tell you that Thace’s mission was a very difficult one and that he had known from the beginning that the chances of survival were slim.  This didn’t ease your suffering.

After you had worked through the worst part of your grief, you settled in reasonably well at the Blade of Marmora.  The members were cold on the exterior but once accepted by them, they actually showed a caring side.  Many who knew Thace had been surprised that he had taken a mate, especially a hairless one but they seemed to accept his choice and treated you kindly.

Marka really looked after you.  She was older and treated you like a surrogate daughter, doting on you in many ways, especially towards your unborn child.  She would frequently knock on your door bringing you handmade baby clothes and toys.  You suspected a lot of those already there when you arrived were down to her kindness.

They seemed to think a lot of Thace and everyone you spoke to regarded him highly.  It seemed that he had been a part of the Blade of Marmora for a long time and had been very successful in infiltrating and sabotaging the Galra Empire undetected.  He was considered an important member due to position he had worked up to and how close he was to Zarkon.

Through the contact at Colony A-5 you were able to have a video meeting with Thace every so often.  You weren’t sure on how they did it all but somehow they scrambled the signal and made it look like it was coming from the colony.  The conversations the two of you had made you miss him more and you often spent time crying in Marka’s arms once the conversation was over.

Thace would talk of your future together and you would expand on it, talking of all the things that you were going to do together.  But something inside you told you that you were both making false dreams.  You discussed baby names, both male and female.  You had very different ideas on names, his being very Galran names whilst yours were very human.  Still, neither of you dismissed any of them and agreed to make the final decision once the baby was born.

Time past much more quickly at the headquarters than it had on the battleship and you were soon nearing your due date.  You found yourself sleeping a lot more as your body temperature had dropped, apparently quite a common occurrence in Galran pregnancies, so your favourite place was your bed.  Marka had made you a huge, warm jumper of which you wore most of the time.

It was during one of you naps that you were rudely awakened by the whole base shaking and alarms sounding off.  You got out of bed as quickly as your heavily pregnant body could and headed out to find out what on earth was going on.  You asked the panicking people around you and the only answer you could get was that the red lion was attacking.

The red lion you assumed was part of Voltron that you had heard about from Thace.  You couldn’t imagine why it would be attacking a group who also wanted to take down the Galran Empire.  Eventually you located Kolivan and waddled into the room to confront him.

“Kolivan what’s going on?  Is this a drill?!  This sort of panic could push me over the edge you know!”

You poked your tongue out as you finished whining.  When you actually stopped and looked around the room you realised that Kolivan and Antok were there with two guests.  Two guests that looked very un-Galran and very human.

“(y/n)?” the taller of the two humans questioned, his eyes wide in recognition.  You looked at the man with surprise, his white strand of hair and his scar new additions but you recognised him.

“Shiro!  What?  How?” you approached him and gently touched his face, hardly able to believe that you were seeing the guy who graduated top of your class after so long.

“It’s a long story.  I could ask you the same.”

“Long story.”

“(y/n) you know the paladins of Voltron?” Kolivan seemed surprised at this news.

“Shiro and I were both pilots together at the Garrison,” you looked at the other guy clad in red with shaggy dark hair and deep purple eyes.  You recognised him but couldn’t place him.

“You remember Keith, right?” Shiro prodded.  It clicked then, this guy was Shiro’s little shadow, the kid who looked up to him.

“Of course,” you smiled, “Keith, how could I forget!”

“Why are you here with the Blade of Marmora?”

“Well actually that’s sort of a long story too…”

“What happened to your neck?” apparently Keith was observant, “a tattoo?”

“It’s not a tattoo.  It’s the Galran mating mark.”

Both men stared at you with wide eyes for a moment.  You shook your head and pulled your jumper tight around your protruding stomach.

“Wait you’re pregnant?  By a Galra?” Shiro looked pretty horrified, “I’ll kill him.”

“No, you won’t,” you snapped back, “don’t assume it was forced.”

“Wait, are you saying that you chose to be with a Galra?” Keith looked a little surprised as the grip on the Galran blade in his hand loosened slightly.

“Sure,” you explained briefly about your capture and how Thace had basically saved you and how you had come to love him.

Shiro looked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  You had managed to fall in love with one of the men who captured you, even if it wasn’t what he wanted to do, he was part of it.  Keith said nothing and just stared at you curiously whilst Shiro lectured you.

“Well, all that said, I guess a congratulations is in order,” Shiro shook his head, “there’s room for you on the Castle of Lions if you want to come with us?  Once we’ve defeated Zarkon our plan is to return home.”

“I cannot allow that,” Kolivan interrupted, “Thace sent (y/n) to keep her away from ships going to war.  He does not want his child and mate to be at risk of injury during the upcoming battles so I must insist that she stays here until Zarkon has been dealt with.”

Shiro tried to interrupt but you agreed with Kolivan, after all, you were still hoping, still trying to force yourself to believe, that you and Thace would be reunited after the fighting was done so you wanted to wait for him where he asked you to.  Reluctantly, Shiro relented telling you that they would come and see if you had changed your mind after they defeated the empire.  He gave you a warm, friendly hug before heading towards the red lion.

Keith hesitated a moment longer.  He looked from you to your bump and then back to you.  You could tell that he had many questions that he wanted to ask you although he knew that now wasn’t the time.

“When this is all over I would like to speak with you more about your relationship with the Galra,” he requested, “and I would like to meet your child.  After all, we’re the same.”

“So that’s why you have a blade.  Well that makes a lot of sense then.  Awesome.  Of course, I think it would be good for you and I to talk more when the timing is better then.  Until then, good luck and stay alive.”

~*~

Only a few short days later you gave birth to a healthy baby boy.  His skin was hairless and coloured like yours whilst he was born with a full head of purple hair, Galran ‘ears’ and all.  His eyes changed between the pupiless Galran yellow to your coloured like they couldn’t work out what colour they were going to be.

On the safe arrival of your son, Marka had tried to get hold of Thace to let him know.  When you did eventually manage to get connection to the Galran warship, it wasn’t Thace who greeted you.

“I regret to inform you that due to the imminent battle with Voltron, Commander Thace is currently unavailable to receive your call at this time,” the soldier informed you in a nervous monotone.  You recognised him as one of the soldiers who had dined with you two a few times.  Reading between the lines, you realised that something was wrong, “I will of course let him know about the safe arrival of his son and that both mother and baby are doing well.  Please remember that the child is promised to Lord Zarkon when he is of age.”

The image flickered and faded.  You looked at Marka who had been hiding in the corner of the room.  Her look was as grave as your own.  Kolivan and Antok, along with most of the others, had gone to assist Voltron in taking down the Empire but Thace’s role in that was a significant one.  A few silent tears escaped your eyes.  You suspected the soldier wasn’t being honest and you feared that Thace was in trouble.

~*~

“Have you decided on a name for the boy yet?” Marka asked from where she was seated in one of the chairs of your living quarters.  You had just finished feeding your son and were in the process of burping him.

“Thane.  Thace wants to call him Thane so I think that, in his absence, I’ll call him that.  He looks like a Thane to me anyway.”

“Thane is a good strong Galran name.”

“Yes.”

You cuddled the boy until he had fallen asleep and then gently carried him to his crib and laid him in it.  As you were standing up from doing so, you felt a sharp pain in your neck.  Instinctively you raised your hand to it, the side where Thace had marked you, and found blood on your fingers as you pulled them away.  You turned to Marka, raising your hand for her to see, as you started to tremble.

“Oh, my poor girl,” she rushed to your side as you fell to your knees and she held you in her arms as you started to sob.

The pain in your neck had gone but the emptiness you felt inside remained as you silently cried into the older woman’s shoulder.  You understood now why the Galra marked their mate in such a way.  It formed a connection between the two and meant that you could feel when something bad happened to the other.

Thace was gone and this time he was never going to be able to come back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay again! But we're probably looking at once a week updates for a little while as my work is quite busy at the moment. Anyway, this is a super sad chapter (not gonna lie) and technically the end of the Thace arc. That said, I'm writing an extra 'From Thace's POV' which will be up after Chapter 11 (or maybe 10... let's see how much I get written this week!).
> 
> Big thank you to everyone who has commented and given this fic kudos. I've been quite overwhelmed with the response it's received!


	11. Thace - Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh I'm so sorry for not updating for so long. Honestly I am. I've had a lot going on plus writers block... D: buuttttt.... here's an update!
> 
> I'm going to write three separate parts from Thace's POV - Meeting, Falling and Leaving - and will upload them between chapters as they are written. They are written in the 3rd person and have a look at the first 10 chapters from Thace's side of thing.
> 
> So this is Meeting in its raw, unedited form. I will edit it at some point but I figured getting an update out there was most important and I really wanted this chapter out before Chapter 11.
> 
> I'll update with Chapter 11 tomorrow or Monday, that's a promise :)

He had been glad that his commander had given a different subordinate the order to fire on the small craft located on the moon that they had been orbiting.  He felt bad for the beings on the ship and for those now stranded on the moon but there was little he could do without blowing his cover.

Prorock asked him to accompany him down to the moon to retrieve the newly acquired prisoners.  The three didn’t make much of an initial impression on Thace.  They were humanoid, shorter than the Galra and without fur.  Two appeared to be male and one female.

Thace didn’t watch as the man who fled from them was shot down, instead he watched the remaining two to see what they would do.  He watched the two exchange glances but was most surprised when it was the woman who took the lead and stepped forward and towards his commander.  The male followed, quaking as he walked.

The woman approached the commander, a determined glare on her face.  Thace raised an eyebrow.  She was brave.  This was unexpected especially… he turned to look at the terrified-looking male of her species, especially considering how weak the males seemed to be.

“Brave woman.  Stupid woman,” his commander wasn’t afraid to beat anyone, male or female, into submission if necessary so Thace wasn’t too surprised by his actions.  He was however very surprised and somewhat curious to see the glare hadn’t left the female’s face even after taking the hit.  What an interesting creature he thought she was.  Most beings would have been scared, some had even cried, after being hit by the commander but instead she was angry and not afraid to show it yet level headed enough not to act on it.

“Thace, bring the woman.”

Thace approached the woman slowly and gently held her upper arms, lifting her to her feet.  He kept hold of one arm and gently encouraged her to walk into the ship.  She refused to look up at him as she walked and her expression remained dark.

~*~

A week later and the woman from the moon has more or less escaped Thace’s mind.  He had many other things to worry about and secret mission to carry out and so had been too busy to remember one of a number of prisoners that had been captured by the Galra.

On this particular day, he hadn’t wanted to attend the arena but his commander had insisted that his officers accompany him there so he found himself obligated to do so.  Whilst sat in the block that they usually frequented, he noticed a new girl amongst the servers.  She was wearing the skimpy outfit that all servers were required to wear and Thace couldn’t help but notice the curves of her body.  In fact, for a moment his mind fought over whether the human female form was perhaps more attractive than the Galran female form.  But that wasn’t what caught his eye most, it was the smile, albeit fake, that she was giving everyone she served a drink to.  She looked completely different to the glowering woman that they had captured.  Fake or not, he thought, a smile suited her features much more than a frown.

Thace found the woman more interesting to watch than the battles in the arena.  He paid enough attention to the fights to converse with his commander and peers but watching the woman manuvering through the crowds was just so much more entertaining and interesting to watch.  She was easy to read, or at least it seemed to him that way, and he noticed immediately when her expression changed after glancing down at the arena for a moment.

His attention too turned to the arena and he realised that it was her companion who was now fighting.  Even a Galran child would be able to see that the human didn’t stand a chance in the arena.

Without really thinking about it, Thace found himself already moving towards the woman.  He excused himself from his comrades, claiming the need for a bathroom break, and found himself behind the woman just as the turned toward him and clumsily fell into him.  His hands grasped her shoulders in a gentle hold as Thace watched her human companion fall much to the entertainment of the crowd.

The woman looked up at Thace in surprise, tears present in his eyes.  Thace felt sorry for her, how could he feel any other way.  She was a prisoner in a place she didn’t know and now the only person she had was dead.  The expression was only fleeting however as she quickly blinked away her tears and as she spoke.

“I’m terribly sorry sir.  Please can I offer you a drink?”

“You have a nice smile,” Thace told her instinctively, internally regretting expressing such a thought audible as soon as he had said it.  The woman looked surprised by his somewhat innocent compliment but didn’t have time to thank him for it as Thace had already taken a drink and hurried back to his comrades.

~*~

Thace sat in a room opposite Commander Prorock and two other higher ups in the Galran army.  They were sat on one side of a desk, mulling over various documents, whilst Thace was sat on the other.  After several moments of the three looking over the papers and talking between themselves they seemed to come to some sort of agreement and all three turned their attention to Thace.

“Once again you have shown dedication to the Galran Empire and exceeded your work expectations.  All reviews and reports on you have been positive and you have been given a star rating of 4.8,” one of the other commanders stated, combing his beard with his claws.

“As you are aware, ratings of higher than 4.75 receive a reward for your hard work.  You may have a few days to think about what reward you would like.”

“Thank you.”

“You are dismissed.”

“Vrepit sa.”

~*~

A few days later, Thace found himself stood in front of the same three officers.

“Have you decided what reward you would like?” the most senior asked him.

Thace nodded.  He had decided quite quickly what he wanted although he still wasn’t entirely sure why he wanted her.  There was something about the human woman that had piqued his interest.  She hadn’t been far from his thoughts since the incident in the arena and this wasn’t good when you were on a secret spy mission, he was much more likely to make a mistake if he wasn’t concentrating properly.  He figured that the best cure would be to get to know the woman and learn about the human race.  He had heard of other officers asking for prisoners to use for their own pleasure as their rewards, requests that had been accepted, so he didn’t think that his request would be too out there for his superiors.

“I would like the female human prisoner as entertainment.”

The three deliberated for a brief moment before speaking.

“We have no problem with that request, Thace.  The only limitations are to not harm her beyond the ability for her to work and try not to impregnate her.  You may have use of her for three days of every seven.”

“Thank you.  Understood.”

 

~*~

There was something about the look on the face of the human woman sat at the table across from Thace that made him want to chuckle.  He had brought her to his room for her first visit and, apart from a few questions about how to play Tessan, she had said nothing.  Neither would she look at him.  He was curious about her and her behaviour.  Eventually he found himself unable to deal with the silence any longer.

“Do you not wonder why you are here?”

She looked up at him for the first time, her fear evident in her bright (y/c) eyes.

“I wonder but I’m scared to ask.”

He admired her honesty.  It made her look innocent and vulnerable yet there was something strong about her too.  He smiled.  Something told him that he needed to speak honestly with her too and so he explained to her why she was there.  He watched her shoulders visibly relax as he explained to her he that he only wanted to play Tessan with her, nothing more sinister than that.

Time passed and Thace found himself very much in enjoyment of the human woman’s company.  He knew that he wanted to extend the time he spent with you and he felt some sort of desire to protect you from the horrors that many Galran prisoners faced.

So, when his next review came around, he made a request that he knew many others had made but very few had been granted.  He requested for ‘ownership’ of (y/n).  He didn’t really want to own her but he knew that she would be protected if she lived in his quarters with him and, if he was lucky, he may be able to get her off of the Galran ship at some point in the future, perhaps even return her to Earth.

His three superiors quietly deliberated his request before turning to him and nodding firmly.

“She has little use to the Galran empire.  Giving her to a dedicated solider would seem to be the best use for her,” the most senior spoke in a monotone, “she is required at the arena tomorrow but once she had completed that shift then you may take her from her cell to your own residence and do with you as she will.”

Thace left the room feeling elated at the revelation.

The following day, Commander Prorock laughed heartily as he slapped Thace on the back.  He had just told him how he had stopped one of the newer soldiers from inappropriately touching the prisoner that Thace had requested and the Commander was clearly pleased with himself for it.  Thace was relieved that (y/n) was unharmed and cross with himself for not noticing your predicament himself.  He hoped that she would not be horrified when he went to get her the next day and take her to her new home.


	12. Moving Forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here's chapter 11!! Please enjoy :) I'll get the next update out soon(ish!)

“There’s an exit through the main power conduit.  It leads to the second deck.  Go now.” The Galran soldier that Keith had just saved commanded.

“What?  No, I’m not gonna leave you,” Keith retorted giving him an exasperated look.

“You must.  I will shut down the system.  Paladin, this is where my journey ends.  But as a member of Voltron you have a bigger mission.  You must understand that.”

Keith looked away from the older male.  He knew what the Galra Spy was telling him was the truth.

“What about (Y/n)?”

“You know (y/n)?” Keith nodded, “then I have a favour to ask of you...”

From within his armour he pulled out an envelope with the human woman’s name written on it.  He handed it to the paladin of the red lion along with a small plush seal.

“Please make sure these things get to her and tell her… I’m sorry I couldn’t fulfil our dreams.  Look after her in my stead.”

Keith took the items that Thace held out to him before looked up at the soldier with an almost affectionate expression.

“It was an honour to meet you.”

As he spoke, more explosions sounded in the doorway and Thace yelled at him once more to leave.  As reluctant as he was, Keith made for the conduit, throwing his blaster to Thace as he passed him and escaping the impending explosion.  As much as he wanted to save the man, he knew there was a bigger plan in place and that he was needed elsewhere.

 

~*~

Keith was sat in the living area of the Castle of Lions lost in thought.  It had been several months since they had defeated Zarkon.  Then they had lost Shiro but now he was found again they had a new enemy to fight, Lotor.  As homesick as he knew some of the other paladins were, he still wanted answers to his own questions, his parentage among them.  He was drawn out of his thoughts when he realised that Shiro was waving his hand in front of his face.

“What is it Shiro?”

“We’re almost there.  We were unable to get word to the Blade of Marmora in advance so (y/n) doesn’t know that we’re coming.”

Keith nodded and stood up.  He was going to take the red lion once again to enter the headquarters but this time alone.  The ship would wait in safety for his return.  He suited up quickly and boarded his lion in preparation to disembark.  Once he had the go ahead from the Blade of Marmora, he disappeared through the ingeniously engineered entrance to the base and docked his lion.

Kolivan met him on arrival and walked with him towards (y/n)’s room.  He stopped at a door and held his hand over the pad next to it, his touch unlocking the door.  Kolivan entered the room ahead of the Paladin.  Inside an older Galran woman was sat in a chair adding the finishing touches to some baby clothes whilst the human woman was sat on the floor, the baby on a mat in front of her playing with an arch shaped mobile that he was placed under.

“It’s been a while, Keith,” you smiled on seeing the younger male.  He smiled awkwardly back noticing how dull your eyes were compared to the last time he saw you, the mark on your neck gone.  His attention then focused on your son.  As the baby looked towards the door, his eyes changed colour and he looked more human.  When he returned to playing with his toy his eyes turned yellow and much more Galran.  You stood to greet your guest.

“The offer Shiro made is still open.  You and you baby can come and join us on the ship,” Keith blurted out nervously.  He was nervous because he knew that he had to give you the items from Thace but he didn’t know when was a good time to go that.  He didn’t really want to make you cry.

“That’s very kind but…”

“You should go, dear,” Marka smiled at you from the chair, “you’ve been with us for so long, wouldn’t it be nice to be with humans for a while?  You’re always welcome here, you’re part of our family, but being with your own race and people your own age may help the healing process.”

“I have to agree with Marka.  I think Thace would want you to go with them too, to give you the opportunity to return to earth,” Kolivan concurred.

You looked between the two whom you’d come to rely on and knew in your heart that it was the best thing for you to do.  Going with the paladins meant that you had at least some chance of returning to your home planet at some point.  You slowly nodded and smiled up at Keith.

“Thank you for your offer.  I will pack now,” you picked up Thane from the floor and carried him over to the paladin before depositing him in his arms, “meet Thane.  You said you wanted to get to know him so this is a good chance.”

Keith froze as he held the child.  What if he dropped him?  Or didn’t carry him right?  He had no experience of babies, why on earth were you trusting him with yours?  He looked down at the child and saw that he was looking up at him with big, curious eyes.  The colour still seemed to flicker in his presence, almost like he couldn’t decide whether he should look human or Galran in front of him.  As Keith looked back at the boy, the baby gurgled and smiled.  Unintentionally, Keith found himself smiling back.

“It looks like Thane likes you,” Marka commented as she lifted up a box of baby clothes, “(y/n) I’ve made sure he’s got clothes to last him until he’s about a toddler.  After that you’ll have to come back to get some more.”

“I imagine there isn’t a crib on your ship.  We will give you this one if you think your lion can take it?” Kolivan asked as he passed Keith with a box of toys.

“Sure,” Keith agreed, his eyes never leaving Thane’s.

Not long later, all of yours and Thane’s belongings were packed up in the mouth of the red lion.  You hugged Marka and Kolivan goodbye and thanked them wholeheartedly for their kindness towards you.  Both told you that you were welcome to return any time and insisted that you agree to visit them occasionally.

You followed Keith up into the lion.  He apologised that there was only one seat but showed you where to perch.  You held on tightly to both your son and the back of Keith’s chair as the lion descending into the cosmos and back towards the ship it had come from.

On arriving on the ship, Keith helped you down and you found yourself met by four humans and two other humanoid being that you didn’t know.  Keith had given you a brief overview of the situation before you arrived so you had a fair idea of who everyone that you didn’t recognise was and of what the Galran Empire had done to the two Alteans.  You quickly turned your attention to the female of the two and walked over to her.

“I’m sorry to impose on you but I thank you for taking us in,” you told her sincerely, slightly afraid of what her reaction might be, “I understand that the Galran have not been kind to you in the past but I hope that having my son and myself here will not cause you any pain or distress.”

The woman looked at you and smiled brightly before taking you and your son into an enthusiastic hug.

“Welcome aboard.  Shiro has told us many positive things about you,” She pulled back and grinned at you, “it’ll be nice to have another woman on the ship who is less…” she looked over towards Pidge who was investigating some of Thane’s electronic toys, trying to figure out how they worked.  You giggled, you already felt more at home.

“She’s really pretty, but a baby?  Major turn off,” you heard the darker skinned man dressed in blue loudly whisper to his larger companion in yellow and you smiled.  You figured that must be Lance.  Keith had warned you about him and his girl craziness.

“Hey,” the shorter girl in green addressed you, “I’m Pidge but I think we’ve met before.  You may have known my brother and father, Commander Sam Holt and Matt Holt?”

“Yes, I do remember meeting you once with the Commander and Matt.  Nice to meet you again.  I’m (y/n).”

“Wait, wait, wait, _you’re_ (y/n) (l/n)?!” Lance ran over on hearing your name, “wow you were a really cool pilot from the garrison right?  But you died on the Titan mission didn’t you?”

“Well, clearly the death part was wrong,” the larger guy in yellow deduced.  Keith had told you that this guy was called Hunk, “looks like the Galra were abducting our fleet before Shiro.”

You nodded, not really wanting to talk more about it.

“So you had your child safely then,” Shiro smiled, putting a reassuring hand on your shoulder, “what did you name them?”

“His name is Thane,” you smiled at Shiro as you introduced your child to the room.

Keith with Coran’s help was unloading the ship when you introduced your son but he stopped and watched everyone’s reactions.  Actually it was Thane’s reaction that he gauged most.  The child’s eyes were not flickering on this introduction, they were solidly human.


	13. New Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay in this update. I've had a lot on in the last couple of months... my work moved premises (and I work with horses so not a small job!) and I had a holiday in Greece but I'm back now! I haven't finished replying to everyone's comments but thank you for them anyway! I'm probably not going to continue with the Thace POV chapters at the moment as I'd rather get the main story out for you guys!

Keith had helped you to take all of your belongings to the room that was to become yours.  Unlike on the Galran ships, you room contained a bed, a chair and now Thane’s crib but apparently there was no kitchenette so you would have to eat communally with the others.  You were actually quite thankful for this.  You felt like and intruder so it would have been quite easy to hide away in your room if you could cook there too.

The paladins allowed you your space to settle in and you weren’t particularly disturbed for the first few days, Hunk even brought your meals to your room for you.  You found the ship to be quite smooth.  Even when they were engaged in battle it didn’t disturb the occupants of the ship particularly, Thane easily slept through the encounters.

Keith had given you space to settle in too.  You could tell that he was eager to speak with you but he also seemed to understand that you needed some space too so he hadn’t really approached you about it.

One, what you assumed to be, evening you were sat on your bed, just finishing breast feeding your son when there was a knock on your door.  You shouted for them to wait a moment and sorted yourself out and wiped Thane’s mouth before carrying the child over to the door so you could both answer it and burp the child at the same time.  You weren’t surprised to find Keith stood on the other side of it.  You invited him into the room you took a seat on the bed offering him the chair.

He accepted but didn’t immediately say anything.  You finished burping Thane and lay him on his stomach on a mat with lots of sensory items for him to play with.  You looked at Keith waiting for him to say something.  He visually gulped before taking an envelope from an inner pocket in his jacket.  He handed you the envelope and his hands fell back into his lap.

You looked at your name written on the envelope in realisation.  You knew this handwriting.  This meant that, at some point, Keith had met Thace.  You looked up at the younger paladin, his eyes were downcast and he refused to look up at you.  Nervously and with water pooling in your eyes, you started to open the envelope.

Within it were a further three envelopes, each addressed to one of your immediate family members and several pieces of paper.  Keith was watching you carefully now but he was still being very careful to avoid your eyes.  You unfolded one of the pieces of paper and found it to be a letter addressed to you, written in Galran.  You placed it to one side, very much not in the mood to translate it right now.

The second piece of paper you noticed was written in English as you unfolded it.  Surprisingly, you laughed as you read it.  Keith, in particular, looked very surprised.

“He actually made a bucket list,” you chuckled as a tear escaped your eye and slid down your cheek, “that’s so very Thace.”

You read through the list in your head:

_Bucket List_

  1. _Defeat Zarkon and the Galran Empire_
  2. _Visit Earth_
  3. _Learn how to play chess and acquire chess board to continue playing with (y/n)_
  4. _Marry (y/n) in human ceremony_
  5. _Visit the Alustrian quadrant with (y/n) and watch the meteorites_



“Keith have you ever heard of the Alustrian Quadrant?”  Keith shook his head.  You shrugged and looked at the last piece of paper.  It was only folded in two and was about half the size of the other bits.  You unfolded it and found a very short phrase written in Galran that you understood without needing your dictionary present.

‘Thank you for loving me.  You made me happy in times when I thought I only had duty.  I’ll love you forever.’

You were crying, you knew you were crying.  The uncomfortable shift of your guest assured you of that.  You sobbed slightly, you wanted to be strong in front of your son but you were struggling.

“He asked me to tell you that he was sorry that he couldn’t fulfil your dreams,” Keith didn’t know what else to say.  Tentatively he moved to sit next to you on the bed and wrapped his arm around your shoulder, pulling you into his chest for comfort as you cried.  You weren’t sure how long he held you for but his jacket was soaked.  Once your sobbing seemed to cease, Keith held out to you a small plush seal.

You took it from him and smiled sadly at it.  You glanced over at Thane who was happily interacting with his mat before leaning backwards and offering the seal to him.  He stopped what he was doing and looked up at the seal, his eyes Galran yellow.  He reached out and took the seal from your outstretched hand and it went directly into his mouth.  You chuckled at the child’s actions before turning your attention back to Keith.

“Thank you for keeping these things for me, Keith.  I appreciate it.”

Keith nodded and left you and Thane to it for the night.  You tucked the letters from Thace back into the envelope and put it carefully in the front of one of the dictionaries that the two of you had created.  You would read the letter from Thace at some point but you weren’t ready to yet.

Keith made himself present in your room quite frequently from then on, offering you the shoulder that you needed to cry on.

~*~

You were lounging on one of the sofas in the communal living area reminiscing with Shiro about the good old days.  Thane was playing with his mobile arch on the floor next to you happily being entertained by Keith.  Whilst you were talking, Lance entered the room accompanied by Hunk and Pidge.

“It’s like mum and dad on the sofa and big bro playing with baby bro on the floor,” Lance commented as he walked into the room.  Conversation immediately ceased between you and Shiro as you both sensed the tension building up in Keith.

“More like mum, baby and uncles,” you corrected him, “Hey Keith maybe you should let Lance play with Thane for a while.  After all, he’s started teething.  Perhaps Lance would be good to chew on.”

The atmosphere changed quickly with your jab at Lance and Keith chuckled.

“His teeth aren’t sharp enough yet to chew through that thick hide.”

“What did you say?!”

“Calm down you two.”

Hunk and Pidge moved to join you and Shiro in the seating area whilst Lance and Keith stood glaring at each other.  You picked up Thane and sat him on your lap.

“So… how long until he like walks and stuff?” Hunk asked as he eyed up the baby curiously.

“Human children don’t usually start to walk until they’re about 9 months old.  Galran children usually start walking around six months so we’ll still have a bit of a wait either way until he can do that.”

“Oh… so what does he _do_ until then?”

“Eat, sleep, poo, cry?” you shrugged, what else did he think a baby would do.  Next to you Shiro laughed.

“It’ll be a while before he joins the garrison, Hunk.  But as he gets older I’m sure he’ll be very interested in learning whatever his family want to teach him.”

His family, you liked that.  You hadn’t been with the paladins long but they were all going to be part of Thane’s life almost more so than your blood relatives back on Earth.  You decided that you’d like to keep it that way, this was Thane’s family.  They were your family.

~*~

Later that afternoon, you were sat on the sofa with Thane sleeping on your chest.  Keith, having recently returned from a mission, sat down next to you on the sofa and started to ask you questions about the Galra.

“What about social classes?  Do the Galra have those?”

“Sure but not in the same way we humans do,” you replied.  It wasn’t the easiest thing to explain but actually the paladins were fairly good examples for the different class systems, “So, take Hunk for example, he would be considered lower class.”

“Why?”

“Too kind, not brave enough from fist impressions, that sort of thing.  And Pidge, if she were actually a guy, would be lower class too.”

“Because she’s small?”

“Exactly.  Not strong enough.  Now Shiro, he’s would be the equivalent of Upper Class.  He’s well muscled, strong and has good leadership skills.”

“What about me?” Keith frowned at the way you praised Shiro.

“Well you and Lance are good examples of Upper Middle Class.  Thace was too.  You’re both lean but actually very fit with a good amount of muscle coverage.  You especially are very skilled in fighting, from what I saw when I was watching you guys training anyway, so depending on your parentage then you’d be classed as Upper Middle or perhaps Upper.”

“And women?”

“Generally not classed the same way as men.  Usually they take the class of their mate, however if a woman is unable to bear children, or if she really wants to, then she can be a warrior or soldier but she’ll be classed as lower class for not carrying out her child bearing duties.”

“What about children?”

“Well children are educated in co-ed schools in their colonies from the ages of five.  When they reach the age of ten they are separated into boys and girls schools, boys mainly turning their attention to becoming warriors and women much more to homemaking, crafts, carpentry and the arts.  By the age of thirteen, if a male doesn’t show warrior potential, he is moved to the girls school.  Throughout their education both male and female Galran children are trained to fight with fist and weapon so that they are ready to defend the empire.”

“Thace really told you a lot about the Galra didn’t he.”

“Sure.  Our relationship started by talking.  He wanted to have company to play a game with and, when I wouldn’t tell him much about Earth at first, he talked a lot about the Galra instead.  But on the plus side, at least it means that I know lots of things to tell you and Thane when he is older.”

Keith smiled.  He had noticed that slowly the light was returning to your eyes.  For some reason this made him happy.


	14. Finding Purpose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't replied to messages, time is really short at the moment so have another chapter instead :)
> 
> P.S. Apologies for any errors, I haven't properly edited this chapter!

You were curious as to why you were following the Black Paladin towards his lion.  Coran had caught you in the living area and told you that he would be babysitting Thane today as Shiro required your assistance on a mission.  Apart from Galran knowledge and baby-rearing skills you failed to see how you could be any assistance to him at all.

You perched behind Shiro’s seat as the lion launched into space.  You had to admit, when you had the chance to observe space from the safety of one of the lions you were really enamoured by it, by how vast but beautiful it was.  You heard Shiro chuckle and realised that he was watching you, his laughter due to the awestruck look on your face.  You blushed and pouted when you realised.

“It’s definitely amazing when you get to really look at it, isn’t it?  I mean, as pilots, we trained to see this.”

“Why did you really bring me along today, Shiro.  I’m not exactly useful.”

“You did the same training that I did.  I thought you’d like to understand how the lions work, after all, we may one day need an extra paladin.  It’s happened before…” Shiro didn’t like to talk about his disappearance and you had never really asked.  Keith had given you an overview of the situation when he had come to bring you to the castle but it hadn’t been mentioned since, “plus I don’t see why you can’t pilot the pods and run errands.  Coran and Allura basically need to stay with the ship so there’s always someone around who can look after Thane.”

“Thanks Shiro.  You really are always looking out for everyone.”

“Not at all.  You’re a good pilot.  You shouldn’t forget that.  Oh, look.  We’re here,” Shiro indicated to a planet that you were quickly descending on.  It had a rock formation reminiscent of the Grand Canyon and it seemed to be here that Shiro was planning on going.

He landed the lion and headed outside, requesting that you follow him.  He took a seat at the edge of the canyon, his legs hanging over into the ravine.  Unsure of what exactly was going on, you sat down next to him.  You were surprised when his arm wrapped around your shoulder and pulled you close to him.

“You… can cry here, if you want to…” Shiro told you in a soft and caring tone, “there’s no one here but us.”

It suddenly dawned on you why Shiro had brought you out here.  He was trying to comfort you.  He thought that you hadn’t had the opportunity to grieve for your Galran mate and he had made a point of making a situation where it was possible for you to do so.  You pushed away from the now confused Shiro and smiled at him.

“Thanks Shiro, I really appreciate the sentiment but actually I’ve shed my tears for Thace already,” to placate the worried look on Shiro’s face you added, “Keith lent me his shoulder to cry on.”

“Keith huh?” Shiro looked surprised at this information.  He had known the younger paladin for a long time and it was unlike Keith to put himself out there for a woman emotionally.  He had always assumed that Keith’s interest in you stemmed from your son and for your son only but he had to wonder.

“He’s been very kind to Thane and me.  He… met Thace before he died and brought back a letter Thace had left me so it made sense that he was the one who was there when I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.”

Shiro smiled.  He realised that Keith was obviously growing as a person and learning new lessons even without his guidance.  Shiro removed his arm from around your shoulder and the two of you just sat in silence for a while.  Eventually you asked Shiro a question that you had wanted to ask him for a long time.

“Shiro, what happened to you?  I’ve never found out how you ended up out here but I’ve wondered… I guess it just never seemed like the right time to ask.  Keith only seemed happy to tell me about the discovery of the blue lion on Earth instigating everything but I know there are things that he didn’t tell me.”

Shiro nodded before explaining to you about how he, Commander Holt and Matt Holt were abducted by the Galra during their mission to Kerberos.  He briefly spoke of what happened to him as a Galran prisoner, namely talking about his arm and his escape, which then of course led into the discover of the blue lion.  You added a few things up and smiled sadly.

“You know, I think we may have even been on the same Galran ship at the same time,” Shiro gave you a quizzical look, “Thace liked to look through my pictures but he’d often look at our cadet training and graduation photos.  At first I thought it was because my hair was really bad back then, but then he pointed at you and asked your name.  Afterwards he asked about some of the others too but you were the one he was interested in.  Now I understand why.”

“I wonder what would have happened if we had met back then?”

“I think Thace deliberately kept the information from me so we didn’t meet.  I think he knew that I would kick up a fuss and probably end up back in a cell myself.  I think he didn’t tell me to protect me.”

“From what has been said of him, I imagine so.  I’m glad, you know,” Shiro smiled at you as you gave him a curious look, “that not everyone from our planet has been only hurt by the Galra.  You were lucky to have met Thace and I am grateful to him for keeping you safe, as your friend.”

“Thanks Shiro.”

 

~*~

Keith, with Thane in his arms, was waiting for you in the Black Lion’s hanger when you and Shiro returned.  Shiro gave the Red paladin a knowing smile to which Keith raised an eyebrow at before he made his exit.

“Where did Shiro take you?”

“Just somewhere to help me cry the tears he thought I might be hiding,” Keith looked surprised and almost hurt, “I had to tell him that I didn’t have any more to cry thanks to you so we reminisced about old times in the garrison instead.”

Keith nodded and told you that Hunk was preparing dinner before he started off towards the dining room, pausing momentarily to make sure that you were following him.

 

~*~

Another month passed by.  You had found more of a purpose among the paladins of Voltron and would run reconnaissance missions from time to time, usually leaving Thane in Coran’s capable hands.

You had just returned from one of these missions and had delivered the item that you had collected to Allura.  You headed to the living area to reunite with your son.  The door opened and you stood in the doorway for a few moments suppressing the laugh that was forming.  Hunk, the kind and somewhat adorable yellow paladin was sat on the sofa with Thane, now able to sit up on his own, sat next to him, blowing raspberries on Thane’s hands and forehead, making the baby laugh every time he did it.  Keith was sitting opposite them playing cards with Pidge.

Shiro joined you in the doorway and quirked an eyebrow at your silent laughter.  You indicated towards Hunk and Thane before you took a deep breath and tried to regain your composure.

“You know, Shiro.  I think Hunk might be trying to steal your roll as space dad.”

“Hmm… looks like it,” Shiro agreed before what you said clicked, “wait, who calls me ‘space dad’?”

“Really, Shiro, you didn’t know that’s what they call you?  It’s because you look after everyone all the time.  Dad qualities.”

Shiro blushed your statement and scratched his cheek nervously.  He’d never really thought about having a family, certainly not since Kerberos, so to find out that others thought he was dad like made him a little nervous.  You left Shiro by the door and squeezed onto the sofa between Keith and the arm.  Hunk was blushing at being caught playing with Thane whilst Thane was still laughing and trying to get Hunk’s attention for more raspberries.

“You’ll be a good dad someday, Hunk.  You’ll keep your kid entertained for hours likes that!”

“Aw really?” Hunk blushed and rubbed the back of his head, “but you know I think Thane looks more and more like a human.  His Galran ears seem to be getting smaller and everything!”

“Yeah, I noticed at too,” Pidge piped in.

“I agree,” you nodded, “I think it may be a safety mechanism built into these mixed race children.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well you were probably born but most definitely raised on earth and you have very human features.  Thane was born at a Galran base surrounded by Galran people and was born with more Galran features.  However, since he was almost three months old, Thane has been living with humans and, as Hunk and Pidge have noticed, his features are becoming much more human.  His eyes were the first.  When he looks at everyone of the ship apart from you and me his eyes are very human.  Obviously with me it is safe for him to look Galran as I birthed him.  As for you, Keith, I think it is because of your mixed heritage that he feels it is safe for him to show his Galran side in front of you.  Whether these things with fade with time and he will become even more human in appearance we’ll just have to wait and see.”

“So what you’re saying is that I could have Galran characteristics that just haven’t shown themselves yet?”

“I suppose it is possible but, if my theory is correct, they would only show when you are with someone who you completely trusted with your mixed parentage.”

Keith nodded, returning to his card game with Pidge although his mind was not really focusing on the card game anymore, he was thinking about what you said.  If your theory was correct and his Galran side could show itself who would be the person he trusted enough to show it to?  He glanced over his shoulder at you as you bounced Thane up and down on your lap, Hunk having handed him back to you.  He felt like you were the only person who had ever looked at him, Galran blood and all, and completely accepted him immediately.


	15. Deepening Bonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't say that I'm 100% happy with this chapter... but it's adequate I guess... please enjoy!

About a month later, you and Shiro walked into the living area laughing after performing a reconnaissance mission together.  Keith was sat on the floor, urging Thane to crawl towards him.  You stopped laughing and smiled fondly at the scene in front of you.  Keith and Thane were certainly developing a close relationship, a special relationship.  Part of you wanted to tear Thane away from Keith now because you felt that, at some point in the future, Keith was going to have his own family and Thane would be abandoned by him.  The other part of you wanted to encourage their relationship, you saw the three of you as a bit of a family unit and you couldn’t deny that you had become somewhat attached to the younger paladin.

Keith did not look happy however.  He picked Thane up and handed him to you before pushing past Shiro and out of the room.  You looked up at Shiro questioningly, wondering if he knew what was wrong with Keith.  He shrugged.

“I’ll go and find out what’s up.  Can you give the data to Pidge for analysis?”

“Sure.”

~*~

Shiro followed after Keith who was storming through the corridors of the castle.  He eventually caught up with him in front of the training room and grabbed his arm, pulling the younger male round to face him.

“Keith, what’s wrong?  Why are you so angry?”

“You and (y/n)…” Keith growled in reply, “is there something between you?”

Shiro faltered, this wasn’t what he expected, after all, he was the one who suspected Keith of having feelings for the girl.  There was no way he would step on his friend’s toes like that.

“No.  We are friends Keith, you know that.  We’ve been friends for a long time.”

“And there’s _never_ been anything between you?” Keith was giving Shiro a look so intense that Shiro felt he had to tell Keith everything, even if it was innocent and a long time ago.

“I asked her to a dance once,” Shiro admitted, “when we were cadets.  I told her that since neither of us had partners we should go together.  She took that very literally and I never asked her out again.  I might have liked her a bit back in those days but it was just a schoolboy crush and I certainly don’t have any romantic feelings towards her now.”

“Because she was with a Galra?”

“No, because I grew up!  Look Keith, I’m aware that you care about her.  I have no intention of getting in your way if you want to be with her.  In fact, I support it.”

“What are you talking about?  I don’t want to be with her.”

“Then why are you getting so angry at the idea of her being with someone else?”

Keith stopped as some sort of realisation dawned on him.  He glared a final time at Shiro before entering the training room, setting the robot to a high level, and starting to fight it.

 

~*~

Shiro tentatively knocked on the door to your room.  He needed to talk to you about Keith and he felt it was quite urgent lest the hot-headed paladin of the red lion do something foolish.  He was relieved when you opened the door and let him in, having just put Thane down for a nap.  He sat nervously on the chair in your room whilst you sat on the bed and waited for him to talk to you.

“I know this may be too soon to ask, but have you thought about your future?  Whether or not you plan on finding someone else that you can love?”

“Eh, Shiro that’s kind of a weird question,” of all the things you figured he wanted to ask you this was definitely bottom of the list, “but it has crossed my mind.  I’m still young and I don’t know that I want to go through the rest of my adult life on my own plus I think it would be nice to Thane to have a father in his life too so I haven’t ruled it out.”

“Have you considered Keith?”

“Keith?  Well I know he really seems to adore Thane and he dotes on him all the time.  He would make a fantastic father but its not just about Thane is it?  I would hate for Keith to be like Thane’s dad but then find someone else and abandon him… it wouldn’t be fair to ask that of Keith either.  He doesn’t need the burden of another man’s son around his neck if he’s trying to get a girl to like him.”

Shiro sighed.  People had called _him_ dense in the face of love but these two really seemed to take the biscuit.  He was starting to wonder how Thace ever got you to notice that he was interested.

“When you first arrived, I thought that Keith was interested in you purely because of Thane.  However I don’t think that was it, I think Thane has always been a good excuse to spend time with you, whether Keith has been conscious of it or not.  When you met him for the first time at the Blade of Marmora and he told you he was part Galran you told him it was awesome, that you would love to talk with him more in the future.  However you meant it at the time, I think that Keith took your attitude as acceptance.  You’re the only person he believes truly accepts his Galran side.  It doesn’t matter that the rest of us have accepted him, your acceptance was pure and without fear.”

“I’m so confused, Shiro.  I have no idea what you’re trying to tell me.”

“I think… Keith is jealous that you and I have been spending time together.  Maybe it would be better if I was to start sending you out on missions with him instead,” Shiro didn’t say anymore, you figured he thought he had overstepped some boundary and he quickly left the room.  You shook your head still confused about the entire situation.

 

~*~

That evening, you were on your own with Thane in the living area.  Everyone was off doing their own thing so you took the opportunity to read a book and get some peace and quiet.  You heard the door open behind you and turned your head slightly to greet whoever had walked into the room.  It was Keith.  You greeted him and made room for him to sit down next to you.

“Do you like Shiro, (y/n)?” Keith asked very straightforwardly as he took the seat next to you.

“No and can’t say I ever have.”

“But you went to a dance with him when you were a cadet?”

“Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about that.  Nah, that was just as friends because neither of us had anyone else to go with.”

“And if he had told you that he asked you in that way because he was too afraid to actually ask you out?”

“Well it wouldn’t have changed anything.  I like Shiro and I admire him too, he’s a really awesome pilot, but I guess you would say he’s not my type.”

“What is your type?”

“Well before Thace I’d have said stereotypically tall, dark and handsome, slim too, I’m not into super muscly guys like Shiro, but I guess tall, purple and fluffy counts too,” you chuckled to yourself “why the sudden interrogation?”

“No reason…” Keith wouldn’t make eye contact with you, “Thane is getting big now.  I’ve heard you tell the others they have good fathering skills but… do I not?”

You quirked an eyebrow at Keith.  Did he really think because you didn’t make a point of saying ‘you’ll be a great dad someday’ you didn’t think he had good father skills?  Seriously, did he think you would leave your only child with him more than anyone else if you didn’t think he’d make a good parent?

“Actually I think you’ll make the best dad out of the lot of them, that’s why I’m okay about leaving Thane with you when I’m busy.  Sorry if I hadn’t made that clear.”

“Do you think Thane sees me as his father figure?”

You didn’t reply, where had all this come from?  These were pretty deep questions on a subject that you had been trying to avoid with Keith.  Now he was throwing them out there and you didn’t have a choice but to answer, to open up to him and tell him your fears.  Keith noticed your expression and seemed to realise that he may have overstepped a boundary.

“Sor…”

“Yes,” you eventually said in a small voice, “but I’m worried it will hurt Thane in the long run…”

Keith looked at you with fear in his eyes, you could see the fear of rejection there.  Fear that you thought he would hurt Thane because of his blood.

“Not because of your background or lineage or anything, that doesn’t matter to me, but because you’ll meet a girl that you want to have a family with and then Thane will be the last thing on your mind.”

“That won’t happen,” Keith reassured you, looking at your son rather than you as he spoke, “I don’t think I could ever start a family with someone who didn’t one hundred percent accept all of who I am.  There’s only one woman I’ve met who I think does do that.  She’s the only one I want to have a family with and I feel like we already _are_ a family.  I don’t want that to change.”

Keith stood and quickly walked out of the room refusing to look at you as he did so.  You tried to call after him but he ignored you as he fled, his cheeks flushed.  You sat on the sofa a little shocked as you recalled his words in your head.  Your conversation with Shiro earlier in the day refreshed in your mind as heat rose to your cheeks.  It dawned on you that Keith had just awkwardly confessed something very important to you.

You picked up Thane and headed out of the living area, your intention to track down the red paladin however an alarm sounded and Allura’s voice could be heard telling the paladins to get to their lions.  Using a technique that Coran had shown you, you tied your son to your back and headed to the control room to see if you could be of any help.  The paladins fought for quite some time, their Galran opponent was a tough one but in the end Voltron emerged victorious.

You had a feeling that Keith would return to his room after the battle and so you decided to wait for him there.  It seemed that most of the paladins planned on returning to their rooms, clearly tired from their battle, which made you a little embarrassed so clearly waiting outside of Keith’s but it didn’t deter you from your plan.  Keith was last to come down the corridor, talking with Shiro as he approached.  Shiro branched off to go to his room whilst Keith headed towards you, his cheeks flushed and his eyes darting around the corridor to avoid yours.

When he came level with you, and his room door he stopped and nervously looked at you.  You smiled at him, a big genuine smile.

“Thane and I wanted to come and welcome you back from your battle.  You were great as always, of course, but we wanted to come and tell you that we’re glad you’ve returned safely.”

Keith look surprised and his cheeks flushed darker.  You were making a point of welcoming him home.  It was something that family members did back on earth when an expedition returned from space.  He smiled at you, a genuine Keith smile.

“Thanks.  I’m home now so you don’t have to worry.”

“I know,” you grinned back, “well go and freshen up.  We’ll see you at dinner.”

Shiro watched the cute and slightly awkward exchange from the doorway of his room.  He smiled, there was a long way to go before they would become a real family but this was a start, and it should keep Keith’s jealously in check too.


	16. Time Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay again... I'm going to blame season three coming out XD Hope you're all catching up with it! All I've got to say is SVEN!!! haha anyways, here's an update, a lighter chapter... I'm not so keen on how the 'Keith' chapters have turned out but still... I might as well upload them...

A few evenings later, you were in the living area with Keith, Shiro and Thane.  The three of you adults were intently watching Thane has he was attempting to hall himself up to standing on the coffee table.  All three of you were eagerly encouraging the baby to stand up and were very engrossed in the activity.

The three of you literally jumped at the sound of the living room door open.  The other residents of the ship entered the room whilst Thane successful stood and wobbled around the coffee table.  Everyone clapped at his success, you loved that this new family of yours seemed to care about your son’s development as much as you did.  Once your cheer for your son’s success had subsided, Allura stood in front of everyone and started to give you all some information.

“Everyone has been working so hard lately I’ve managed secure us each a place on a safe planet named Aguala for a day so that we can have a chance to relax.”

“Aguala?  What sort of place is that?”

“Well Hunk it’s a planet primarily made up of water.  The residents of the planet have made use of its waterways and hot springs to create a waterpark that anyone who has the co ordinates and password can access and we recently managed to obtain those,” Coran explained in detail.

“Yes.  It means that it should be quite safe from the Galra so you can actually take a break and relax for a while.”

“You mean we’re going to a waterpark where there’ll be girls in bikinis!?  I can’t wait!”

“We should be there by morning so I’d suggest an early night.  Don’t worry about swimwear, they sell a wide range on the planet.”

~*~

The next morning, you found yourself stood in a swimwear shop looking over an array of differently types of swimsuits.  You had no idea what you should go for.  On arrival, the teller had indicated for you and your companions to go into the humanoid department where many of the swimsuits were similar to what you had on Earth.  It hadn’t taken you long to pick out a cute little all in one for Thane, that was the easy part.  Picking one for yourself was much harder.  Not too far away from you, you noticed Pidge selecting a wet shirt and shorts whilst on the other side of you Allura was looking at one pieces.  They guys were off in the men’s section looking at shorts.

“This one would look cute on you,” Allura interrupted your thoughts as she took a red bikini from the rack, “Let’s get these and go and change.”

You wanted to protest, you didn’t feel particularly confident wearing a bikini but Allura was already at the till paying for them.  She then led you, with Thane in your arms, and Pidge into the girl’s changing rooms and the three of you started to change.

Once you had, you checked yourself out in the mirror.  You didn’t think you looked too bad.  You were very glad that Keith had convinced you to train with him since you had joined them on the Castle of Lions, it meant that you had both increased your fitness and lost a lot of your baby belly.

You stepped out of the changing room to find Pidge and Allura waiting for you.  Allura gushed at you, telling you how cute the bikini was on you.  The three of you headed out, Thane in your arms, to meet up with the guys.

“Wow, (y/n)’s so hot!” you heard Lance exclaim as the three of your approached.  You thought your heard him mutter something about Allura too but he obviously valued his life enough to not say that out loud.

“I thought you said you weren’t interested in her because she had a baby,” Keith gave Lance an annoyed look whilst he tried to avoid looking at you.

“Well Thane’s a pretty awesome kid so she must be a good mum right?  So that’s pretty hot too.”

“Lance, don’t even think about it,” Shiro warned the younger paladin.

“Keith, will you come to the baby pool with me?  I want to introduce Thane to the water.”

“Sure,” Keith blushed as he looked at your somewhat scantily clad self.

The two of you walked together to the small pool.  You both sat in the shallow water with Thane seated on your lap to get used to it.  It wasn’t long before he was happily splashing around with both of your assistance.

A short while later, Shiro joined the two of you with a ring, one in which you could seat Thane so he could float around on the top of the water safely.  You and Keith went deeper into the pool, so that you were about waist high in water and started pushing Thane backwards and forwards between the two of you.

“And over to daddy,” you broached as you pushed Thane through the water to Keith, wondering how the paladin would react to you using such a word.

“Back to mummy,” his cheeks had reddened at your use of the word ‘daddy’ but he didn’t correct you.

Shiro sat at the shallow end of the pool, one foot in the water watching the three of you happily.  It was progress.  He figured that you two had a long way to go yet but this was a start.  He looked up as he heard footsteps approaching and looked up into the eyes of the Princess.  She took a seat on the poolside next to him and watched you two playing with Thane.  As she heard the way you two were addressing each other, her eyes became sad and she looked away.  Shiro picked up on this and questioned her.

“Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy for them.  They understand each other very well.  (Y/n) accepts Keith completely and he trust her more than anyone.  But… Well no point crying over something that cannot be.  I suppose I made sure that he would never have any feelings for me when I was so cruel to him after I found out he was part Galra.  They are best suited but it still hurts.”

“Princess…” Shiro gave her a sympathetic smile.  He had never realised that the Princess had a soft spot for Keith.

“(y/n)!  Keith!  Over here!  I’ve got the camera!” Coran walked over to the pool with your instant camera and indicated for the three of you to pose together.

You moved Thane’s ring round so he was facing the camera and stood behind it, leaving room for Keith to stand next to you.  You almost jumped in surprise as Keith’s arm wrapped around your waist and the two of you smiled for the camera.  You knew that you’d see a deep blush on your cheeks when the picture developed.

“Why don’t you two go and enjoy yourselves for a while,” Allura suggested as she waded through the water towards you, “Shiro and I can look after Thane.  You two deserve a break too.  The hot springs are nice for relaxing.”

You looked up at Keith who nodded at the suggestion.  You followed him out of the pool and the two of you headed off to the hot springs together.  On the way, you passed the lazy river in which you saw the yellow, green and blue paladins all lazing in rubber rings.  It seemed that they didn’t notice you and Keith passing by and therefore didn’t censor their conversation.

“Oh really, so that’s why Keith got angry when I said she was hot earlier… but I still don’t see it…”

“I was there in the room when he told her he only wants a family with her.”

“It’s because you’re so small people don’t notice you, Pidge.  You should eat more so that you don’t end up eavesdropping on peoples’ private conversations.”

“But this is great gossip, Hunk.  I mean, I can really use this information to wind Keith up.”

“Lance, that’s not why I told you.  I told you so you’d leave them alone.”

Keith put his hand on the centre of your back, between your shoulder blades and urged you past his three fellow paladins as quickly as he could.  He was blushing and would only look straight ahead as he walked.  You giggled into your hand.  He was pretty adorable when he was embarrassed.

You arrived at the hot springs part of the park and found an empty pool that the two of you could go in to relax for a bit.  You took a seat first and Keith sat next to you, close enough that your hands were touching but no closer.  You sat in silence, enjoying the refreshing feeling of the hot water on your skin.  You were so relaxed that your eyes dropped closed.

“I’m not… good at saying or showing how I feel…” you opened your eyes and looked up at Keith as he spoke to you, “and I don’t have much experience with… women… but bear with me okay?  Don’t get bored or fed up with me.”

You grinned at the blushing man next to you.  He wasn’t telling you anything that you didn’t know, or hadn’t guessed.  You gently rested your head on his shoulder and linked your fingers with his.

“I never planned on finding someone that I could come to care about so soon after losing Thace.  Sometimes I feel guilty.  But in the letter that he wrote me he told me to be happy, to find someone who made me feel that way.  His mission always came with a large chance of him not making it out.  I think we both knew that when he left me at the Blade of Marmora that we wouldn’t see each other again.  It sounds strange but it’s been over a year since I actually last saw him even though he died much more recently.  When I was pregnant with Thane he would come home from work and tell us about whatever exploits Voltron had had that day.  I don’t think he would be unhappy with how things have played out.”

Keith smiled and rested his head on yours as you fell back into your comfortable silence.


	17. Cut Short

After you two had relaxed for a while in the hot springs, Keith suggested that you go on a slide or two.  You agreed but wanted to check in on Thane beforehand not wanting to take advantage of your friends’ kindness.

Coran was with Thane in the baby pool and insisted that he was happy taking care of him whilst you and Keith rode a few rides.

You rode a couple of fun, non-threatening ones before you came across one that looked great fun and meant that the two of you could race each other.  The ride had two flumes that had been cut through the rock and landed in a lagoon in one of Aguala’s many caverns.  You set off at the same time, the competitive spirit in each of you coming out, and boasting that you were going to win.

The flume was narrow and the rock wasn’t completely smooth, especially at the top.  The water was quite deep and you found it quite hard to keep your breath but you found it somewhat exhilarating nonetheless.  Suddenly you saw the slide open up in front of you and you found yourself plummeting down a near vertical drop, plunging into the deep water of the lagoon below.

You started to swim for the surface but something seemed to have hold of your leg.  You kicked yourself free, assuming that it was weed in the bottom of the lagoon that you had gotten caught up in and met Keith by the steps.  It seemed he won the race.  He helped you out of the pool and you were just walking past the lagoon to exit the cavern when you noticed a white head bobbing just above the surface in the lagoon, glaring at you and Keith.  It looked reminiscent of a cuttlefish, only very angry.  You got the feeling that your foot may not have been caught in weeds, that the creature in the pool may have intentionally tried to pull you down.

“Um, excuse me,” you called out to one of the pool assistants, “is that person in the pool okay?”

“Oh that?  That’s one of the Agualites, one of the native inhabitants of Aguala.  They’re usually harmless but they do like to pop up and scare people sometimes.”

You nodded and continued on your way with Keith.  However, once the two of you got outside, you found more of the Agualites waiting for you.  Their head and bodies resembles a cuttlefish only with a neck, shoulders and arms.  Their bodies were long and low, held up by lots of small legs reminiscent of many crustaceans.

“You are not welcome here.  Those with Galran blood are not welcome here.”

“We are only here to relax.  We are not associated with the Galran Empire,” you stood in front of Keith defensively.  You didn’t trust the Agualites not to attack him.

“It doesn’t matter.  Those associated with the Galra are not welcome on Aguala,” the Agualites started to close in on you two.

You glanced around you and grabbed hold of Keith’s wrist and ran in the opposite direction of the Agualites.  You called for Allura through the wrist device she had given you and let her know of your predicament whilst you ran.  You were worried for Thane.  Allura assured you that she would gather everyone up and meet the two of you at the castle.

The Agualites could move surprisingly fast on land and were hot on your heels as the two of you ran through the park and through the entrance foyer.  You could see Allura, Shiro, Lance and Hunk stood guard outside of the Castle.  You hoped that meant that Coran and Pidge were inside with Thane.

You ran past your guards before stopping and pushing Keith ahead of you.  You told him to get onto the ship.  You could see he was reluctant to leave you guys, he wasn’t one to run away, but he could see that this was non-negotiable from your expression.  Once he was on his way, you turned back to the Agualites who had stopped at your on-guard friends.  You stepped in front of Allura and addressed them.

“You hate the Galra right?” the Agualites all chortled in agreement, “well there are people out there who want to defeat the Galra like Voltron.”

“Yes and we support Voltron.”

“No.  You don’t.  There are Galran people out there and those with Galran blood trying to stop the Empire.  You’re tarring everyone with Galran blood with the same negative brush and that isn’t okay.  Shouldn’t this place be a solace for everyone who is working to defeat the Empire?”

You turned you back on the Agualites and started towards the ship.  As you passed Allura she gently stopped you and nodded her head, silently telling you to conclude your argument with the Agualites.  You whispered a ‘thank you’ before turning back to face the Agualites for the last time.

“If those with Galran blood aren’t welcome here then Voltron can never come here to protect you.  One of its paladins has Galran blood.”

You continued towards the ships, the others following you in a protective manner.  Keith was waiting for you in the doorway.  You smiled as you saw him and the next thing you knew he had pulled you into a fierce hug.

 

~*~

Later that evening you were sat in your room rocking Thane to sleep in your arms.  Someone knocked on your door and you called for them to enter.  To your surprise it was the Princess.  You stood to receive her as you felt it was the ‘proper’ thing to do but she just smiled and told you to sit down.

“I wanted to thank you, in person, for the way you acted today,” Allura told you as she took the seat on the chair and you repositioned yourself on the bed, Thane still in your arms, “you defended what you believed in without getting overly emotional or irrational.  I think we need more people to open their hearts to the Galra who oppose Zarkon’s regime.”

“Thanks Princess.  I wouldn’t exactly say I wasn’t emotional… I saw red a bit.  I understand that as a general rule the Galran race have hurt a lot of people and are not popular but to tar everyone with the same brush seems like such a backwards thing to do.  Everyone needs to work together to defeat them.”

“I agree.  I have to admit that for a while I was like the Agualites myself.  I didn’t treat Keith very kindly when I found out about his mixed heritage and I truly regret that now.  I can see first-hand how prejudice like that can cause tension and hurt people.  Thank you, really thank you, for being so open minded enough to not be like that and to support Keith like you do.”

“You don’t need to thank me.  In a way I was very lucky.  Meeting Thace meant that although I saw the dark side of the Galra I also saw the light.  If I hadn’t met Thace then there’s nothing to say that I wouldn’t also have those prejudices.”

~*~

A few days later, you were heading out on your own to get some supplies.  The paladins were out on a mission with the lions whilst Coran and Allura (and the mice) were manning the ship and babysitting Thane.

Your job wasn’t supposed to be hard but, on Keith’s insistence, you took a weapon with you just to be on the safe side.  You were stood in a queue on a small independent satellite shopping centre waiting to be served and get the items that you needed.  Everything seemed pretty relaxed and you were able to chat with the aliens around you and learn a little more about some different races.

Everything seemed to be going fine until a Galra ship appeared above the satellite and sent in fighters.  You took cover behind an overturned table with some of your new alien acquaintances.  You stayed as low as you could as the droids where dispatched into the area and started to shoot at those who resisted.  You looked at your wrist communication device and decided it would not be good if that got into the hands of the Galra.

“Allura, I hope you read me.  My mission’s been compromised.  The satellite has been attacked by the Galra.  I will be destroying this device once I’ve made this transmission so it doesn’t fall into enemy hands,” you removed the device from your wrist and threw it to the ground, stamping on it a few times to make sure it was well crushed.

Part of you wanted to fight but the droids all had guns and you wanted to make it back alive to your son.  Once the area had been secured by the droids, two officers boarded the satellite.  You breathed a sigh of relief.  You didn’t recognise either of the Galran soldiers which was a good sign as it meant that your identity would remain unknown at least until you got to the prisoner registration room.

Hopefully you’d be rescued by then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woop~! Another update! Sorry for the cliffhanger (definitely not sorry!).


	18. Still Searching

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update! Sorry it's not a long one today... fingers crossed I'll get another chapter out before the week is over!

****

The hot-headed paladin of the red lion was currently being restrained by Hunk and Shiro.  For the first time, Lance actually felt for him rather than wanting to poke fun at him.  The woman he cared about was in danger, in a very real and very serious danger, and they could only do so much about it.  They were, of course, making their way there as quickly as they could but Keith wanted them to be there sooner and felt that he could do that alone in the red lion.  Hence his human restraints.

Lance understood his fury and desperation to get to the woman he cared about and figured he must be feeling pretty helpless about now.  Slowly, Lance approached Keith.  The look on Keith’s face told Lance that he expected him to make some sort of joke and that Keith wouldn’t mind breaking out of his restraints to hit him.  Gently Lance rested his hand on Keith’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“We’ll save her, Keith.  You don’t have to worry about that.  We are Voltron after all!”

Keith stopped fighting against Shiro and Hunk at Lance’s words.  He already knew that they would save her, of course they would, but still he had been seeing red so badly up until that point that he had forgotten that he had the rest of the team behind him supporting and helping him.

 

~*~

You huddled up in the corner of the communal cell that you and all the other prisoners from the satellite where currently crammed into.  You could see how scared the others were.  Some of them were trying to put a brave face on things, offering positive suggestions on what could happen to them, but generally the people around you were crying, shaking and terrified.  You felt much like them.  You were trying your hardest not to cry as you buried your head in your knees as you drew them up as close to your chest as you could.

You had no idea how long you were on the vessel for before it docked on the main ship.  You stayed seated as long as you could so that you would be as far back in the prisoner registration queue as possible.  You appreciated the encouragement that your fellow prisoners tried to give you, helping you to your feet and giving you reassuring pats on the back.

You were stood in the queue with your gaze directed at the floor.  You knew at some point you’d be recognised.  Still for now you were okay and the reassuring pats on the back from your fellow prisoners did make you feel better.

Unexpectedly, you were grabbed roughly and pushed up against the side of the ship.  You looked up in surprise and into cold, glaring yellow eyes.  You didn’t particularly recognise the Galran soldier who had pinned you against the wall but you could tell that he recognised you.

“You’re that filthy traitor’s mate,” he growled at you.  Internally you debated whether you should agree that this was the case or deny that you had ever known Thace.  You figured you’d be safer playing slightly dumb but not denying everything.

“Traitor?  Is that what he was?  I guess that explains why he hasn’t returned and why that mark disappeared that time… maybe why suddenly people stopped liking me too.”

“Don’t play dumb, woman.  You had a child.  Where is the mongrel?”

“Well he’s somewhere safe.  I was only away to get supplies.  I’ve been making sure that he stays healthy and grows strong until… well I guess until someone came from him.”

You were surprised when the first blow came.  Your left cheek throbbed terribly but you didn’t have much time to think about it before the soldier had laid another blow to your stomach, winding you.  You fell to your knees and his foot collided with your other cheek and you fell to the ground.  You fell to the ground from the force of the kick, the metallic taste of blood in your mouth from where you had bitten through your tongue.

The soldier had turned his back to you when you looked up and was walking away.  You guessed that he was probably going to tell one of his superiors about you.  Slowly you raised yourself up onto your hands and knees before finding the strength to stand and retake your place in the queue.  As your senses returned to you, you realised that there was a large gap around you.  Apparently your altercation with the soldier had made them all wary of you and now they didn’t want to be near you.  You were alone.

 

~*~

The paladins of Voltron had arrived at the shopping mall satellite where you had been taken captive.  They checked over the remaining bodies for any signs of life, and to make sure that you were not among them.  Any that still appeared to have life in them they took back onto the castle and placed in the healing pods to aid their recovery.

Keith was frantically searching through piles of rubble and under surfaces whilst shouting your name.  Clearly hoping to find you hidden somewhere on the satellite.  Lance could see the desperation on the red paladin’s face and had chosen to help him search even though he figured that you had probably been taken captive.  He wanted to show his friend that everyone cared that you were in danger, that he wanted to help find you.

It was Pidge who found the remnants of your wrist communicator.  It was Shiro who delivered the bad news to Keith.  It was Lance who took the fist of the hot headed red paladin to the cheek, and it was Hunk who caught the blue paladin as he staggered backwards from the force of the blow.

Keith looked horrified when he realised what he had done and he fully expected Lance to hit him back.  Instead the blue paladin rubbed his cheek and grinned at the red paladin, surprising most of the people in the room.

“If that’s what it’s like to be in love then I can’t wait until I meet a beautiful woman of my own.  So protective.  So cool.”

Keith’s cheeks tinged slightly red.  Now was not the time for Lance’s jokes.  Especially when they were about something like his feelings for you.  After all, he had never said that he loved you, not to anyone.  He was still coming to terms with the vague idea that his feelings for you may just be that.  Yes he had said he wanted to have a family with you and he meant that but it was more of a trust thing that romantic.  Yet deep down he felt that perhaps it was romantic but he was scared to admit that, scared that you would reject him because it was too soon after Thace.  Still, for now, all he wanted was to find you safe and well.  That was all that mattered, everything else could wait.

Shiro, level headed as always, took charge and instructed everyone to return to the castle.  He asked Allura to search for the nearest Galran fleet as he had a feeling that was where they would find you.


	19. Family Reunited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff... that is all, with maybe a little more fluff thrown on top for good measure.
> 
> Enjoy!

You had been separated from the other prisoners and placed in a cell almost identical to the one that you had been placed in when you were first taken from Titan.  The soldier who had roughed you up had returned with his superior and the two had taken you immediately to the cell.  You assumed that they had some greater plan in motion, some way that they planned to deal with you or turn you over to Lotor.

You sat on the hard bed and wrapped the thin blanket around you and tried to work out your options.  You decided that it was worth a try to escape, after all, they were probably going to kill you anyway so you’d feel better about your impending death if you knew that you had done everything you could to avoid it.  You figured that you’d attack when the doors opened next.  Only you had no idea when that would be.

Sometime later, you were awoken unexpectedly from your restless slumber by the whole ship shaking.  You had no idea what was going on but you jumped to your feet and prepared to take on whatever was coming your way.  You heard footsteps outside and stood ready to attack should your door open.

You crouched low and waited.  After a few short moments, the door opened.  You sprang to your feet and aimed a kick to the head of your assailant.  They dodged and you found yourself in the corridor surrounded by blurs of blue red and black.  You took a moment to ground yourself but before your mind could catch up with the rest of you, you were tackled to the floor.

You were surprised when slightly chapped lips pushed against your own in a sloppy kiss.  By this time your mind had caught up with you and you knew that you were saved.  You found yourself kissing your saviour back, arms wrapping around his neck and running through his thick black hair.  A whistle and someone clearing their throat brought you out of your ecstasy.

“Well eventually Keith’s made a move,” there was great amusement in Lance’s voice.

“Well… sure that’s a good thing but we need to get a move on.”

Keith pulled away from you and stood before helping you to your feet and you looked up at your saviours.  It was Shiro who you had almost kicked on your escape from your cell.  You quickly apologised but he stopped you from being too apologetic and ushered you and Keith onwards.  You needed to get off the ship as soon as possible.

Keith grabbed you hand and ran on ahead whilst Lance and Shiro released the last few prisoners from their cells before following after you.  Coran was nearby with a pod in which all of the rescued prisoners were being loaded.  Keith pulled you past the shuttle and towards his lion, insisting that you ride with him.  Now he had you back, he wasn’t planning on letting you out of his sight.

The lions reconvened out in space and covered the shuttle as it escaped.  The Galran Ship was now obviously aware that it had been infiltrated and was quite willing to fight Voltron to retrieve its stolen prisoners.

For the first time since you had been residing in the castle, you found yourself part of Voltron as the Lions united to make one being.  You were amazed at how smooth the transformation was from your perch behind Keith’s seat.  Although you quickly found that wasn’t always the case after the transformation had taken place when you ended up on your backside on the floor after one particularly jerky movement.

“(y/n), are you okay?” Keith shouted over his shoulder from you, his eyes never leaving the fight in front of him.

“Yes of course.  Don’t worry about me, I’m fine now.”

The battle didn’t last much longer and the Galran ship was dispatched.  You were amazed at how well the paladins worked together.  It wasn’t that you didn’t know that they did, it was more that seeing it from the back seat of the lion meant you saw it on a much more personal level.  They worked in perfect unison, like a well-oiled machine.

Once they were sure that the ship had been destroyed, the lions broke apart and returned to the ship.  Keith took your hand and led you down from the Red Lion and into its hanger where Allura was waiting for you with Thane in her arms.  As soon as your baby saw you, he reached out towards you.  You ran past Keith and towards your son, almost snatching him from the princess in your haste to have him in your arms once more.

“I’m sorry, Thane.  I’m so sorry,” you repeated yourself so many times as tears streamed down your face from all of the overwhelming emotions that you were feeling.  Happiness, to be back with your child.  Guilt, for almost orphaning him.  Relief, that you were safe and no longer in danger.

You felt an arm wrap your waist and start to guide you out of the hanger.  You looked up into the deep purple eyes of the part Galran that you were clearly falling for.  He smiled at you, a soft almost invisible smile, and led you to your chambers.

Once you were in your room, he set up a blanket so that you could feed your hungry son (who had not appreciated the formula that Coran had been forcing him to feed on since running out of your bottled milk) whilst averting his gaze and blushing beetroot red.

You chuckled slightly.  He was pretty cute when he was being all prudish and innocent like that.  You had no qualm with him seeing you breast feed Thane.  Firstly, you were using your breasts for their actual purpose and secondly, Keith had said he wanted you three to be a family.  You wouldn’t hide away when feeding your son if you were living together or something like that.

Once Thane had fed, you burped him, changed his diaper and put him to bed.  Clearly, he hadn’t been resting well whilst you were gone.  Quite possible picking up the nervous energy from the others as usually Keith or Coran could sooth him very well.

You had barely turned away from the crib when Keith pounced on you, toppling you over backwards and onto the bed.  He was kissing you fervently, sloppy kisses that told you in no uncertain terms how worried he had been about you.  This was the most open and bold that Keith had been towards you in the romantic sense and you found yourself reciprocating his ministrations without much hesitation.

Eventually the two of you broke for air.  You looked up into the eyes of the younger male to find glowing, beautiful yellow eyes where his dark purple ones usually were.

“Keith, your eyes… they’re beautiful but… you need to look at yourself in the mirror.”

Keith pulled away from you and stood, walking into your en suite where you had a mirror above the sink.  You followed him and watched him from the doorway.  He hesitated when he saw the Galran eyes where he usually saw dark ones before he raised a hand to almost prod around them, checking that it was real.  He blinked a few times and his eyes reverted to normal.  Once he was sure they were as they were supposed to be, he looked back at you.  You could see the fear in his eyes.

“Well I’m a lucky girl, getting to look at both beautiful dark human eyes and brilliant yellow Galran eyes,” you grinned at him in an attempt to reassure him that it was okay, “heck if you start to grow fur and ears that’d probably be pretty cute too.”

Keith pulled you into his embrace and hugged you tightly.  Your attempt at making the subject light hearted was more than enough to reassure him that you still accepted him, that you really didn’t care what he looked like, he was still Keith.

“You don’t have to worry, Keith,” you whispered in his ear as he hugged you, “I’m not going anywhere.  I’ll always be here for you.”

“(Y/n), I lo--"

As if on cue, Thane started to bawl interrupting your moment together.  You immediately pulled away from Keith and ran to your child’s side to comfort him and find out what was wrong.  You were a little confused to find his nappy wasn’t soiled nor was he hungry, after all you hadn’t long fed him.  He didn’t seem colic-y either.  You held him gently in your arms whilst Keith passed you, removing his jacket as he did and climbing on the bed.  You gave him a curious look but he just smiled back at you.

“Bring him to bed with us.  He’s probably feeling insecure because you were gone so long so maybe a night in bed with us will help him relax.”

Us.  Your cheeks flared red at his casual use of the word.  It seemed that Thane wasn’t the only one who was feeling it that you were gone so long.  You nodded tentatively in agreement and climbed onto the bed, placing Thane between the two of you on the pillows.  Both of you spoke to him in calming and reassuring voices and almost immediately he ceased crying and instead spent his time looking between the two of you with big, yellow eyes.

Eventually he fell back into a deep sleep.  Once you were fairly sure that he wouldn’t wake up again, you gently lifted him up and put him back into his crib.  You didn’t feel safe keeping him in the bed with the two of you.  What if you rolled over onto him or something?!

Your turned your attention back to the bed to find Keith lying there expectantly, waiting for you to return.  Slightly hesitantly you joined him on the bed, allowing him to pull the covers up over the two of you.  Gently he pulled you towards him so that you were laying with you head on his chest.  You could hear his heart beating rapidly in his chest and you imagined that yours probably mirrored it.

“I never thought it would be something that I’d feel but I really think that I’ve fallen in love with you,” he gently placed a kiss on the top of your head, “I don’t expect you to say it now, in fact I don’t want you too.  If you ever come to feel the same way then tell me some when that isn’t a reply to my confession, okay?”

You nodded your head against his chest and closed your eyes, listening to Keith’s heartbeat slow down and lull you to sleep.

 


	20. Mending Hearts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Penultimate chapter! Phew... Nothing to say about this one really so enjoy! I'm going to overhaul and completely rewrite the final chapter before I post it so there may be a little delay before the next update. I apologise in advance for that!

The next morning you woke up to find yourself alone.  You weren’t surprised, Keith always went to train with Shiro early in the morning.  You showered and dressed before gently waking your baby and giving him a feed.  Once he was fed, burped and nappy changed, you dressed him in one of the cute outfits that Marka had made for him and headed out to the dining hall to get yourself some sustenance.

You met Lance in the hallway and he immediately gave you a teasing grin and somehow managed to waggle his eyebrows.

“I saw Keith coming out of your room early this morning.  I didn’t realise he was brave enough to do the dirty so soon!”

“Firstly, Lance when are you ever up early in the morning so are you sure you didn’t dream it?  And secondly, Thane sleeps in my room too… what you are insinuating, in front of my son… eew.”

You poked your tongue out at the blue paladin as you passed him, hearing him utter words of agreement with your last statement as you did.  He quickly caught up with you and the two of you walked together to breakfast.

You entered the dining hall to find Hunk preparing breakfast and Pidge at the breakfast table.  He told you that Coran and Allura had eaten breakfast earlier and were already hard at work.  You placed Thane in the highchair that the paladins had constructed and sat yourself down at the table next to him.  A few moments later, Shiro and Keith walked through the doors to join the rest of you.

“Da..da…” you looked at Thane in disbelief, watching as he was reaching out towards Keith, “dada…”

The room was deathly silent as all eyes turned from Thane to Keith and back again.  It wasn’t a coincidence, he really was reaching out for Keith.

“Dude, not cool.  Surely you should have taught him to call for his mum before you.”

“It’s not a problem, Lance.  It’s quite normal for babies to say ‘dada’ first.  It’s easier for them to pronounce than ‘mama’.”

“So you’re not gonna beat on Keith for it?  ‘Cos I’d totally be up for defending your honour like that.”

You chuckled and shook your head as Keith took a seat beside you, after ruffling Thane’s hair, and Shiro joined you all at the table.  You spoke only of casual things whilst you ate.  On finishing breakfast, the other paladins made their exit, leaving only you, Keith and Thane behind.

“Are you sure it’s okay… for Thane to call me… dad?”

You didn’t answer for a moment.  Part of you felt completely heartbroken hearing those words from your son knowing that it should have been Thace hearing them but on the other hand you knew it reflected how important and integrated Keith had become in the two of your lives.

“If you’re happy to take on that responsibility fully then I don’t see any problem with it.”

“You know I am.  I want us to be a family and…” his cheeks flushed a dark red, “maybe one day Thane can have a sibling or two…”

You grinned at the blushing male and nodded.

“Let’s just save the universe before we add to the brood.”

~*~

As you and Keith became more comfortable around each other romantically, you noticed that his eyes flashed yellow much more frequently and it lasted longer too.  You also thought you had seen flashes of violet on his skin but it went far too quickly for you to be sure of this or not.

Keith hadn’t really left your room since the night he stayed over, although he still technically had his own quarters he didn’t really use them anymore.  You didn’t mind.  It was easier than moving Thane’s crib to his room.  Coran had suggested that perhaps, now that Thane slept through the night, it would be a good idea to give him is own room with a baby monitor so you got some of your privacy back.  You hadn’t dismissed the idea but you still found it a little strange that everyone knew that you and Keith were more than friends.  The part of you that felt guilty for moving on still wasn’t comfortable with everyone knowing.

You were sat on the bed in your room reading a Galran book that Kolivan had given you during your stay at the Blade of Marmora.  You had put Thane to bed quite a while ago now and you were enjoying a bit of peace and quiet.  Keith had gone to practise in the training room and was yet to return.  This was becoming part of your routine and you didn’t usually worry about it but tonight, well he was an awful lot later than he usually was.

You were a little worried and so decided to play with the baby monitor and left it set up beside Thane whilst you strapped the portable listening part to your wrist.  You then left your room and headed up to the training deck to find out what was keeping Keith.  There weren’t any lights on when you arrived and you were almost tempted to turn around assuming that you two had passed like ships in the night but something in your gut told you that you needed to enter the training room, that you weren’t seeing everything.

As you walked further into the room you could see a shape leaning against the far wall.

“Keith?” you called out as you flicked the light switch on.

“Don’t!” you heard his voice call back but it was too late and the lights flickered on.

Sat on the floor with his back against the wall was Keith but he didn’t look normal.  Although he was hiding his face from you, you could see the mauve colouring of his skin.  Unfazed by the change, you walked over to him and knelt down in front of you.

“Don’t look at me.”

Gently you pried his hands away from his face and looked at the full extent of the transformation.  His nails were longer and more like claws and his skin colour was an obvious change.  When you looked up at his face you could see his fangs from where he was nervously chewing his lip and his eyes were bright yellow.  His hair seemed to have stood up more on end but you couldn’t say that it looked completely like Galran ‘ears’.

“What happened?” you asked softly.

“I was training at one of the highest levels.  It was difficult but then the program added a second robot and, I don’t know, this happened.”

“It’s okay.  We knew it was a possibility,” you reassured him as you rubbed the back of his hand gently.  You hesitated before you continued.  You weren’t good at acting stern but you felt like he needed someone to be the voice of reason, “Keith Kogane pull yourself together.  We’ve covered this already haven’t we?  It doesn’t matter what you look like, you’re still you and I still love you whether your skin is pink, purple, black, blue or any other colour for that matter.”

The next moment Keith had pulled you into his arms and had pressed his lips against you in a fiery kiss.  The words that he longed to hear had eventually fallen from your lips and when he was most in need of hearing them.  You kiss was passionate before he trailed kisses down your neck and collarbone.  You could feel his fangs graze your delicate flesh and shivered in response.  He stopped his kisses at the point where your neck and shoulder met, moving your shirt so he could access that part of your flesh.

“Can I?” he asked against your skin.  You knew what he was asking, you didn’t even know if it would work considering he wasn’t full Galra but you hadn’t been more sure of anything since losing Thace.  You wanted to be with Keith for the rest of your life.  He wasn’t a ‘safe’ bet as a paladin and warrior himself you could still lose him but you wanted to take that risk, to have him in your life as yours and yours alone.  He was no replacement for Thace, he never would be and you were both aware of this but you didn’t love him as a replacement and, deep down, you knew that these were the only two men who would ever hold your heart.

“Yes,” you breathed as you felt his fangs sink into the skin there in a mix of pain and pleasure coursing through you.  His lips found yours again and you made out for a while longer.  When the fiery passion had subsided you found yourself sat in the lap of a very human looking Keith.

“I guess you can call on your Galran side as and when you need it?”

Keith grinned at you before his attention turned to the bloody marks on your shirt.  He gently moved it to reveal his bite wound healed and a mark, completely different from the one that Thace put on you, appearing.

“This way it’s just between you and me,” he whispered as he kissed the mark and pulled you to your feet.  It clicked in your head that he had marked you where he had so that the others wouldn’t see it. Since you always wore sleeves that part of you was never really on show.  That made it all the more personal, more intimate and it dawned on you that he was acutely aware of all of your feelings and insecurities.

You grinned up at the younger male and held his hand tightly as the two of you returned to your room.

 


	21. Happy Ending

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It saddens me to say we've eventually reached the end of this journey T_T thank you everyone who has commented and left kudos and especially to those readers who have stuck with this story from beginning to end.
> 
> I doubt this will be the last Thace story I write and certainly not the last Voltron so there will be more to come... Stay tuned.
> 
> As for this ending, well I wrote something and then totally re-wrote it because it didn't feel right. Hopefully this is a good enough conclusion for you all!
> 
> Enjoy!

“Thane, Lorelai, Takashi are you three ready yet?” you called from the kitchen of your home as you threw you purse into your handbag and headed out into the hallway where suitcases were piled up ready to leave.

“Coming mum.  Just got to stop Lori from chewing Taka’s ears.”

“I’m not chewing his ears liar.”

“Mummy, she did.  Lori lied.”

Full of chatter, three figures appeared at the top of the stairs.  Your eldest son, Thane now twelve years old, led the way down.  His bright yellow eyes looked up at you and he grinned, revealing his elongated fangs.  He still held many of his Galran features and you found that as he was growing up he was starting to look more and more like his father.

Thane’s hand held the much smaller hand of his little brother, the five-year-old Takashi, named, obviously, after Keith’s closest friend.  His eyes were much likes Keith’s dark purple ones but he had your hair.  Following the two boys was your only daughter, seven-year-old Lorelai.  Her hair was long and dark like her father’s whilst she had your eyes.  Her skin, although hairless, looked almost mauve in some lights.

“All ready?” you asked enthusiastically, “your dad will be here to pick us up any minute now.”

“Do we really have to go mum?  I meant its boring,” Thane grumbled, “plus it means I won’t get to see the guys over the summer break.”

“Thane Kogane, you’re the only boy I know who would moan about getting to spend summer break in space.  Anyway, we promised Uncle Hunk that we’d go visit him and Aunt Shay so you’re not getting out of this one mister.  We’ve even got enough time to go and see Kolivan and Marka and you know they always dote on you.”

Thane nodded with a small grin, he did enjoy seeing Marka, she spoilt him, and his siblings, rotten.

You heard a car horn beep outside and opened the front door, instructing your brood to go to the car and get in their seats, taking a bag or two if they were able to carry it.  Moments later your husband came to the door to help you with the heavier bags.

“Good day?” he asked as he pressed a tender kiss to your lips.

“Better now you’re here, Keith,” you said against his lips before the two of your followed your children to the car with your belongings, locking the house behind you.

After a short drive, the car entered the desert where you could already see the pointed nose of the Castle of Lions standing like a spire.  Keith parked the car next to a few others and your family, and belongings, headed towards the castle.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Shiro greeted you all as you reached the entrance of the ship, “Taka, you’ve grown again haven’t you.  You too Lori.  I swear every time I see you guys you get bigger,” he fussed their hair affectionately before looking towards Thane, “and you Thane, well look at you, almost a man now.”

“Not too soon please, Shiro,” you shook your head as Thane puffed his chest out, pleased with the compliment that Shiro had given him.  You hugged Shiro affectionately in greeting.

“Good to see you two too,” he grinned as he and Keith shared a quick man hug, “not planning on any more then at the moment?”

“I think three is quite enough.”

“Oh, I don’t know, one more couldn’t hurt, right?”

You looked at your husband with narrowed eyes.  He knew exactly what kettle of fish he had just opened.

“Yeah I don’t wanna be da youngest.”

“I want a sister.  I hate being the only girl.”

“Oh please, no more crying babies.”

You chuckled at your family and took Keith’s hand just as Lance with his family and Pidge with hers, her father and Matt included, arrived.  Allura and Coran came to welcome you all onto the ship as you headed out to visit Hunk on Balmera.

As the castle ascended into space, you looked out of the windows in thought.  You loved your life.  It was a happy one and you had a wonderful family.  But when you were in space you were reminded so much of the love that you had lost and the life that could have been.

“Mum?  Are you okay?”

You turned around at the sound of your son’s voice and quickly wiped away the tear that had escaped from your eye.

“I was thinking about your father and how proud he would have been to see how you were turning out.”

Thane smiled at you before hugging you tightly.

“I think he’d be happy to know that you’re happy, mum.”

You ruffled his hair as you held him and smiled.

“Oh yeah, mum why did you call me Thane?”

“Your father wanted to call you Thane.  He said it was a good, strong Galran name.  Why?”

“Well did you also know in Scotland a Thane is the chief of a clan?  We studied it recently at school.  Pretty cool right, it’s like I’m the chief of the family by default.”

“Woah, not so fast there, Thane,” the voice of your husband chuckled as he approached the two of you, “I don’t think I’m ready to give my ‘man of the house’ status up yet.  Still, can I borrow you for a bit?” Thane nodded and stepped towards Keith.

“Where are Lori and Taka?”

“Lori is getting beauty tips from Lance and Taka is playing in the control room, under supervision of course.”

“Ok, I’ll go join Lori then, see what anti-aging miracles Lance can work.”  Keith caught your wrist as you passed him.

“You’re beautiful as you are, you know.”  You grinned and kissed him lightly on the lips before continuing on your way.

 

Once you were out of earshot, Thane and Keith started in the other direction.

“Well, were they able to find it?”

“Yes.  We’re going to the control room so Allura can show you where it is.”

“I’m taking credit for this though, Dad.  After all, I’m the one who found the letters.”

“Don’t worry,” Keith ruffled his adopted son’s hair affectionately, “this one’s all on you.”

 

~*~

A few days later, after collecting Hunk, Shay and their family from Balmera, you were awoken very early by a knock at the door to your room.  You looked at Keith who was peacefully sleeping next to you and apparently undisturbed by the noise.  Groggily, you got to your feet and opened the door.  You were more than a little surprised to find your eldest, morning hating son stood in the doorway fully dressed and apparently wide eyed.

“Thane, do you have any idea what time it is?” you asked in a hushed whisper, hoping not to wake anyone else up.  Thane grinned and nodded.

“Get dressed, Mum.  I’ve got something I want to show you.”

You blinked a few times before reacting.  Thane had never demanded anything of you before so you were a little surprised but also very curious. You turned on your heels, grabbed your clothes and headed into the bathroom to change.  Once ready, you took a fleeting glance at your husband, who still appeared to be very much asleep, and joined your son in the corridor.

He took your hand and lead you through the ship to where the pods were kept.  You both got in one, Thane at the controls (you were pleased that Keith had been giving him piloting lessons for years) and headed off into the darkness of space.

You had a feeling that you friends may just be in on whatever it was that Thane was planning since the castle opened up to let the pod out with no problems.  Thane seemed to be following a navigation system on the dash but he wouldn’t let you see where you were going.

Eventually, the pod flew close to a planet.  You thought you were going to land but Thane didn’t stop, instead he continued until you came to a large mountain.  As you flew up towards the peek, you noticed that you had the perfect view of the most beautiful meteorite shower that you had ever seen.

Thane landed the pod atop the mountain and the two of you stepped out into the chilly air of the planet, gazing at the meteorites as you did so.  There were so many colours and patterns, and it didn’t seem to be ceasing any time soon.  You were completely mesmerised by the sight.  Thane hugged your side tightly whilst you watched together.

“I found the letter that you kept from my father,” he said eventually, “he said he wanted to bring you here to see the meteorites.  I spoke to dad.  He and Princess Allura helped to arrange this.”

“So, this is the Alustrian Quadrant?  Thane, this is incredible,” tears started falling from your eyes as you spoke.  You were touched by the thoughtfulness of your son, your husband, and your friend.  You now understood why Thace had wanted to bring you to the Alustrian Quadrant in the first place and you were so pleased that you hadn’t decided to go there sooner, that it was your son who made that decision for you.  It made it a more intimate, more special place, and you figured that Thace would probably be over the moon to know that it was Thane who took you there, that you watched the meteorites together.

You heard a sound behind you and saw that the castle of lions had landed a little further down the mountainside.  Your friends, your extended family, were all slowly making their way up to join you and Thane.  Taka was the first to make it to you, having made a beeline for you on sight.  Thane tussled his hair before picking him up and showing him the meteorites.

Keith followed up shortly afterwards, allowing Lorelai to go and play with Lance’s son.  His arm snaked around your waist and he pressed a chaste kiss to your cheek.  He didn’t say anything, not about the letters, the meteorites or the tears streaming down your face.  You put your arm around Thane’s shoulder, pulling him and Taka closer to you and Keith and looked back at the meteorites.

It might not have been the life you envisaged, Keith had never replaced Thace and he knew that you still loved the Galran martyr, but you had three great kids and a loving family that stood with you now as you looked out on the place that Thace had so much wanted you to see.

You guessed you could cross that final thing off your bucket list now.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting to AO3 but I've been writing for a few years under the same alias.
> 
> There doesn't seem to be much love for Thace but I really adore him and this forced itself out of my head and onto paper because of that. I've actually got the entire story written so hopefully I'll be able to update once or twice a week.
> 
> Anyway I hope you like it :)


End file.
